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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE STORY 



IN 



PRIMARY INSTRUCTION 



SIXTEEN STORIES AND HOW TO USE THEM 



SAMUEL B. ALLISON, PH. D. 

Principal of the Keith School, Chicago 
AND 

H. AVIS PERDUE 

Primary Instructor, Keith School, Chicago 



A. FLANAGAN CO. 

CHICAGO ^ NEW YORK 



Twr i, > s* a *v of 

CONGRESS, 

T>vr, Copies Recsiveo 

2 1902 

Copyright entry 



SajJt* 



Ci pfSS <2-XXa No. 
COPY B. 









&'h 



Copyright 1902 
By A. FlanaoaW Co. 






J 






TABLE OP CONTENTS. 

Page. 
INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION 5 

THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION 5 

1 . The Mastery of a Vocabulary not the Material of Instruction. 

2. A Wider Circle and Purpose, Growing out of the Child's Life and 

Needs 

3. Language Teaching. 

THE SELECTION OF THE SUBJECT MATTER 11 

1. Phase of Mind Activity in Early Civilization. 

2. A Third Element of the Race Products. 

3. The Legendary and the Mythological the Child's Natural Food. 

4. How Are We to Discriminate as to the Material to be Selected? 

5. Narratives Selected and the Basis of Selection. 

6. The Four Story Groups. 

JHE PROBLEM OF CORRELATION 20 

SUGGESTIONS 23 

1. The Treatment. 

2. Reproduction. 

3. The Preparation. 

4. Narration. 

5. The Deepening. 

6. The Nature Material. 

7. Ethical Material. 

8. Reading. 

9. Drawing Etc. 

10. Dramatization. 

11. Construction. 

SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIVE STORIES 35 

THE SEVEN LITTLE GOATS 35 

1. The Mother Goat. 

2. The Wolf 

3. The Wolf in the House. 

4. The Mother Goat's Return. 

V< 5. Detail of Form Work (.Diagram). 
THE STARDOLLARS 44 

1. At Home 

2. In the Fields. 

3. In the Forest. 

/LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD 48 

v 1. At Home, 

2. In the Woods. 

3. At Grandmother's House. 

THE SWEET RICE PORRIDGE 54 

1. The Little Girl and her Mother. 

2. The Wonderful Rat. 

3. The Mother Well Again. 

4. The Flood of Rice. 

5. The Valley Filled Up. 

MOTHER FROST 63 

1. The Lost Spindle. 

2. The Maid in the Well. 

3. The Return Home. 

4. The Idle Maid. 

SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED 70 

1. The Home. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS— Continued. 

Page. 

2. How Snow-White and Rose-Red Played. 

3. The Bear. 

4. A. Dwarf in Trouble. 

5. The Dwarf Fishing. 

6. The Dwarf and an Eagle. 

7. The Bear Again. 

THE COCK AND THE HEN 83 

1. On the Mountain. 

2. The Travelers. 

3. At the Inn. 

4. The Innkeeper. 

DEATH OF THE COCK 89 

1. The Cock's Death. 

2. The Funeral. 

3. Crossing the River. 

BIRDIE AND LENA 93 

1. How the Hunter Found Birdie. 

2. The Cook. 

3. How Birdie was Saved, 

4. The Search. 

5. The Servants Go Again to the Forest. 

6. The Cook Punished. 

THE WOLF AND THE FOX 102 

1. At the Farm Yard. 

2. At the Farm House. 

3. In the Cellar. 

THE STREET MUSICIANS 107 

1. How the Musicians Came Together. 

2. In the Forest. 

3. The Robbers Return. 

4. Detail of Form Work (Diagram). 

THE STRAW, THE COAL AND THE BEAN 116 

1. The Meeting. 

2. The Journey. 

CINDERELLA 120 

1. How Cinderella Got Her Name. 

2. The Fair. 

3. The Ball. 

4. How Cinderella Went to the Ball. 

THE WONDERFUL TRAVELER 130 

1. The Tra velar. 

2. The Kind Man Grants Wishes. 

3. The Proud Man Overtakes the Traveler. 

4. The Proud Man's Wishes. 

HANS AND THE FOUR BIG GIANTS 141 

1. The House in the Country. 

2. Leaving Home. 

3. Hans in the City. 

4. The King's Palace. 

5. Hans Starts on his Journey. 

6. Hans Meets Another Giant. 

7. Hans Meets a Third Giant. 

8. Hans Meets a Fourth Giant. 

9. How Hans Got the Necklace. 

THE FIR TREE 155 

1. In the Forest. 

2. The Wood-Cutters. 

3. Other Trees Go from the Forest. 

4. The Fir Tree Has its Wish. 



INTRODUCTION. 



I. 



THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

The greatest need of the primary school to-day is some 
positive content or subject matter of instruction. The popular 
conception of such a school is that its main function is to 
teach the young child to read, write, and cipher. That is, 
that it has to do mainly with the formal aspects of language 
and numbers. So long as a certain amount of facility is gained 
in these formal arts, there is little disposition to demand any- 
thing more. 

Even so great an authority as the Committee of Fifteen 
has championed this view, and has given as its deliberate judg- 
ment that the first four years of school life should be devoted 
to the mastery of the formal phases of instruction. While it 
may be contended that it is not meant to exclude the giving 
of a positive subject matter, still it is interpreted as sanction- 
ing the present obvious over-emphasis of the formal side of 
language in our primary schools. 

A strict conformity to this formal program would mean 
that the first four years of school life, the most impressionable 

5 



6 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

period in the pupil's school career, are to be empty of any 
real subject matter. The mastery of written and printed forms 
is to be set up as an end in itself, losing sight of the fact 
that they are but means for conveying the thought, feelings, 
experiences, and aspirations of the race from one generation 
to another. 

When we consider what the child at the age of six or 
seven really is; when we consider his love of story, his hunger 
for the concrete material of knowledge, his deep interest in 
the widening of his experience, — it is evident that such a 
course is out of all harmony with his real nature. It is the 
giving of stones when the cry is for bread. It is even worse 
than the proverbial making of bricks without straw. It is 
attempting to make bricks with straw alone. 

THE MASTERY OF A VOCABULARY NOT THE MATERIAL 
OF INSTRUCTION. 

It will be granted that the mastery of a printed and a 
written vocabulary is of the utmost importance. As a sub- 
ordinate end, the ability to interpret the printed page and to 
express thought in correct form is the most imperative de- 
mand upon the school. But these acquirements are not a con- 
tent in themselves. They are not the material of instruction. 
In themselves, they do not enlarge the understanding or fur- 
nish the food which the young mind hungers for, — and must 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 7 

have if it is maintained in a condition of health. They are 
mere forms, and the dwelling upon them during the impres- 
sionable years of childhood results in a deadening of his inter- 
est and dwarfing of his powers, so that the over-emphasis 
of this phase of education to the exclusion of content defeats 
its own ends. 

Laying the foundation for a future character edifice, keep- 
ing active the developing interests, the widening of his experi- 
ence, the formation of interpretative concepts, — these are of 
greater value from the point of view of language mastery, 
even of its spoken and written forms, than the persistent drill 
in its formal elements. 

Language teaching must be approached from the content 
side if we are to get any genuine interest in the overcoming 
of difficulties on the part of the child. There is no interest 
for the child in the language forms themselves when presented 
in abstraction and emphasized as such. He may be drilled 
into proficiency, but the interest does not come from the rela- 
tion of these formal elements to his own needs or activity. 
The interest has been external and it flags as soon as the 
external excitement is withdrawn. A genuine interest, an 
intrinsic one growing out of his own needs and nature, can 
be fostered only by supplying a subject matter adapted to 
the various levels of thought through which his development 
leads him. If this is furnished, it is no partial, intermittent 



8 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. ' 

attention that the pupil gives. While dealing with such a con- 
tent he is not forming the habit of mind-wandering and inat- 
tention so frequently seen when children are kept closely to 
word drill and to reading for elocutionary purposes. 

A WIDER CIRCLE AND PURPOSE, GROWING OUT OF THE 
CHILD'S LIFE AND NEEDS. 

The possession of a wide acquaintance with the standard 
subject matter of child literature before serious attempts at 
learning to read are made, will subordinate the acquisition of 
a reading vocabulary as means to an end desired on the part 
of the child. There will be purpose in it for him. [The learn- 
ing to read will be seen as a step necessary to a fuller expres- 
sion of activities already going on, and difficulties will be over- 
come because their mastery is a means in a wider circle of 
purpose growing out of the child's own life and needs. If, 
in early years, the emphasis is removed from the form to the 
content side of instruction, if his native hunger for folklore 
and nature-material is satisfied, the learning to read will be 
lifted out of drudgery and will be accomplished with self-effort, 
and with a rapidity truly surprising. 

The early forcing of technique is not a real gain in the 
child's education, however much may be apparently accom- 
plished. Immediate results are not a safe guide for instruction 
in the primary grades. They are, many times, a positive loss 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 9 

in time, and are gained at the expense of dwarfing the mental 
and physical powers. There is no real need of forcing the 
process of learning to read if the teacher is ready with a sub- 
ject matter which the child is already going out to meet. 

The time of the first year of school life would conduce far 
more to the child's progress if spent with learning to read 
and write as a secondary consideration, and the giving of a 
real body of culture, ethical, and nature material as a main 
purpose. Subsequent progress would be all the more rapid 
and instruction be all the more educative because a wider 
range of interest would call forth self-active participation of all 
the powers. The widening of experience and the formation 
of interpretative concepts would allow further instruction to 
be grasped with sufficient avidity to carry it over into actual 
assimilation into the self. 

LANGUAGE TEACHING. 

What has been said with regard to the relation of reading 
to a content is equally true with regard to what is known as 
language teaching. It is a hopeless task to endeavor to give 
skill in the use of language independent of a content which 
is not in accord with the pupil's own stage of development. 
The interest, to be genuine, and productive of self-effort, must 
always be in the content. An enrichment of his vocabulary, 
a proper use of words, correct form of oral and written speech 



10 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

must come, not for themselves, but as results of an effort to the 
adequate expression of something which the pupil is interested 
to communicate. 

The widespread criticism directed against the results of lan- 
guage teaching in our schools no doubt has something of justi- 
fication. This defect does not come from lack of attention to 
the matter, or from indifference on the part of the teachers, 
but largely from the over-emphasis of the purely formal as- 
pects of language. The matter is approached from the wrong 
side. In early years, to get form we must emphasize content. 
( In the primary grades, formal insistence on correct technique 
should be at the minimum, while richness and variety of sub- 
ject matter should be at the maximum. ) 

Nor is this without application to the remaining forms of 
language expression, — drawing and music. Skill in aesthetic 
forms can come only from an interest in something to be 
expressed in these forms. 

When we consider that the child, up to the eighth or 
ninth year of his life, has not a sufficient mastery of a read- 
ing vocabulary to enable him to get for himself out of books 
material for which he has deepest need, and which is his nat- 
ural and proper nourishment, the imparting to him orally such 
material assumes an aspect of gravest importance. Shall his 
early years of school life be barren and empty? Surely the 
teacher has a duty in this respect beyond giving merely formal 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 11 

instruction. She should not allow the pressure for immediate 
technical results to deprive the child of his inheritance in the 
folklore and the epic treasures of the race. 

It has been shown by experiment that, with young children, 
instruction is taken more readily through the ear than through 
the eye. Their pre-school education has been acquired largely 
through auditory impressions and exists in the mind in the 
form of auditory images. To throw the emphasis at once on 
visual impression and imagery is too violent a break in their 
mental habits. 



II. 



THE SELECTION OF THE SUBJECT-MATTER. 

The kind of content proper to early childhood is deter- 
mined by the nature of the child himself. It is the child that 
is to be educated. The teacher must take him as he is, with 
full trust that the strengthening of those powers at present 
active will result in his highest good. All attempts to improve 
on nature has been abortive. Every normal child is active in 
those ways which the race experience has embedded in him. 
His activities are echoes of those by which the race has been 
successful. The conception of the child standing over against 
the real subject matter of education and in direct antagonism 



12 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

to it, between which and him there is no intrinsic relation and 
into which he must be introduced by external means, is not in 
harmony with an optimistic philosophy or with a correct un- 
derstanding of pedagogical principles. 

There must be, in the nature of things, a relation between 
the activities already functioning in the child and the material 
the assimilation of which will constitute him not only a thor- 
oughly equipped individual but also a socially efficient factor. 
It is a mistaken view to suppose that the exercise and the 
development of the activities dominant in early childhood will 
lead away from the best interests of the individual or endan- 
ger his efficiency as a member of society. It is anomalous to 
assume that the impulses and interests of childhood must be 
suppressed or eradicated in order to fit him for participation 
in social life. These impulses have been implanted in his 
nature by actual participation in a social life on the part 
of his ancestry, and they are the possibilities of a worthy social 
development. 

While this is true, while the determining factor in the selec- 
tion and arrangement of the subject-matter of education is 
the child himself, yet the undoubted parallelism between his 
growth and that of the race widens the scope and furnishes 
the broader basis for such selection and arrangement. It mat- 
ters little to what extent such a parallelism is accepted. The 
principle once established makes it a matter of indifference 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 13 

whether we proceed from the individual or from the broader 
standpoint of the psychological history of the race. This 
psychological history is made out by a study of the literature 
products left behind in the ascent from the lower levels of 
development to the higher, as represented in modern civiliza- 
tion. 

PHASE OF MIND ACTIVITY IN EARLY CIVILIZATION. 

A survey of the literary remains of the past gives con- 
clusive proof that the characteristic phase of mind activity in 
the dawning periods of civilization is the imaginative or 
mythical. The earliest literary product of every people is the 
epic, whose chief elements are legends, myths and the heroic, 
and whose authorship is not individual but of the race itself. 
Such a product, not the creation of any one mind, but slowly 
fashioned through the centuries by the poetic genius of the 
race, however trivial it may seem, has strong claims on our 
deepest veneration. It should receive most careful study and 
consideration. 

These epic remains come from the innermost life of a 
people. They are the expression of this life. They are elo- 
quent witnesses of a strong imagination dealing with the mys- 
teries of earth, of sky, and of life itself. They tell of the morn- 
ing of history, when man was close to nature — a part of nature. 
The earth, trees, waters, animals — all forms, animate and in- 



14 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

animate, had voices for him. He communed with them. He 
treated them as of equal rank with himself. 

A THIRD ELEMENT OF THE RACE PRODUCTS. 

But, in addition to their imaginative character and their 
closeness to nature, these race products have still a third ele- 
ment of the utmost value for use as material for primary in- 
struction. While they "enforce no moral" they tell "a story, 
and the moral in solution with the story." Each tale is a nar- 
ration without comment. The ethical teaching involved is in 
the most concrete form. It is not set out and emphasized, 
but lies wrapped up in the movement of the narrative itself 
and awaits the exercise of the child's ethical judgment. 

Viewed from our ethical standpoint, folklore does not al- 
ways come up to the highest standard. There are objection- 
able features in many tales. In this respect they reflect the 
uncritical and even crude morals of the time. While this is 
true of some of the tales, in many the ethical teaching is pure, 
lofty and wholesome, and furnishes an element greatly needed 
in our primary schools. We have here held up for esteem and 
veneration these virtues of head and heart and action that lie 
at the base of a happy, considerate and industrious home life. 
Baseness, cruelty, ingratitude, and laziness are brought home 
to the individual in their consequences. The corresponding 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 15 

virtues are shown in their true relation to happiness and well 
being. This may not be the highest form of ethical activity, 
but it is the only kind of ethical teaching on a level with child 
thought. The morality of the stories is set forth in the con- 
crete as a principle of action found valuable in the race's his- 
tory. 

That such a content is a great desideratum for purposes of 
ethical instruction in our schools all will admit. The condi- 
tion of religious thought is such as to preclude the use of 
sacred literature. Perhaps it would not afford so many advan- 
tages for purposes of ethical teaching in the first year of school 
life as literature closer to the childhood of the race in its origin. 
Some subject-matter that affords opportunity for the exercise 
of the ethical judgment is an imperative demand for our time. 
What is there more suitable than this embalmed judgment of 
the race as to what is valuable in conduct and character? 
Here are stored up in a form that appeals to the child material 
for generalizations as to the conditions of well-being and of 
happiness, as well as of a moral and a useful life. All that the 
race has thought, felt, and experienced is here at the service 
of the child. One is almost tempted to use the expression of 
Hegel and say that, in assimilating the ethical teaching of these 
racial literatures, the child is being suckled at the breast of the 
Universal Ethos. 



16 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

THE LEGENDARY AND THE MYTHOLOGICAL THE CHILD'S 
NATURAL FOOD. 

Even to casual observation there is close correspondence 
between child nature and the characteristics of the early liter- 
ature of the race. Children are wholly in the imaginative or 
mythical level of thought. They are immersed in the sensu- 
ous. They refuse to be bound by the hard matter of fact. 
They will away and claim the world as their own through 
which to roam on the unfettered wing of fancy. They claim 
freedom to construct their own world and to people it with 
creatures of their own fabrication, independent of the shackles 
of time and space. 

The child also feels himself a part of nature, not as some- 
thing standing over against it. The separation has not yet 
come. He ascribes an equal and like personality to animate 
and inanimate objects. He is at home among animals and 
plants. There is spontaneous interest in all phases of nature, 
and inborn love for her creatures; and as to the ethical ele- 
ment, the child is not without points of contact for it. He is 
born with social impulses. He is not only to be a social crea- 
ture, but is one at all stages of development. He is nothing 
if not social. The fiction of original, independent individual- 
ity which must be thrown off, given up, or eradicated before 
becoming a social being, is fast giving way to the natural or 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 17 

organic theories of social origin and growth. The very im- 
pulses which are sometimes cited to show the natural depravity 
of childhood are the vigorous reaching out of his nature 
toward a participation in the social life. 

Thus there can be little doubt as to the fitness of legendary 
and mythological material for the needs of the child. It is his 
natural food. It fits in with his forms of thought — is in obvi- 
ous relation to them. It meets the needs of activities already 
functioning. It discloses a world in which he can be at home. 
It falls in with his interpretation of this world, while the simple 
social life therein depicted appeals to his interest. 

HOW ARE WE TO DISCRIMINATE AS TO MATERIAL TO BE 
SELECTED? 

If this position is granted, how then, out of the vast richness 
of the material, are particular selections to be made? What 
principles should govern in our choice? As already hinted 
there are degrees of value, for purposes of instruction, in the 
immense treasury of folklore, myth and fable. It will be read- 
ily conceded that what is known as folklore has qualities ren- 
dering it of greatest value, for the first years of school life. It 
is simple and direct. Its conception of the world is that of 
pure naturalism. The formal myth and fable belong to later 
stages of mental development. The fable, too, has the objec- 
tion of being explicitly didactic in its enforcement of the moral. 



18 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

NARRATIVES SELECTED AND THE BASIS OF SELECTION. 

In the following narratives, for the most part consisting of 
German Mdrchen, the principles of selection given below have 
been kept in mind: 

1. The story must be simple, direct, and imaginative. 

2. It must have strong ethical significance and must avoid 
cruel situations. Stories dealing with happy home life — em- 
phasizing industry, thrift, and usefulness — are to be given 
preference. 

3. It must offer a content rich in social allusion, in out- 
door life, and in references to natural objects, animate and 
inanimate. 

4. It should be of such abiding worth that it will bear 
repetition and hold interest. 

5. It must be dramatic; that is, there should be move- 
ment, activity, dialogue, interesting and even humorous in- 
cidents, but all subordinate to a central unity. Only such a 
dramatic unity can work a deep and lasting impression. 

These principles of selection are in the main those enun- 
ciated by William Rein in his excellent manual, Das Erste 
Schuljahr, a book with which every primary teacher should 
be familiar. The stories here presented have the sanction of 
such eminent students of pedagogy as William Rein, Ziller, 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 19 

Just, and Hiemish — all leaders of educational thought in Ger- 
many. 

The text of the first fourteen tales has been translated with 
a few adaptations from the German of Hiemish, as found in 
his Das Gesinnungsunterricht To these have been added 
Andersen's Fir Tree and Miss Harrison's Hans and the Four 
Big Giants. 

The order here given is not essential, but on the whole it 
will be found a rational one. The succession could be deter- 
mined by many points of view. The one here chosen is that 
of relation to home life. The series begins with the simplest 
home relations of parents and brother and sister. It gradu- 
ally broadens into the wider circle of companionship, and con- 
tact with the world external to the home. It culminates in 
Miss Harrison's fine story, Hans and the Four Big Giants, 
where the separation from home is complete and the child is 
brought into contact with the highest industrial and scientific 
phases of modern civilization. Transition from the more 
simple situations to the more complex and longer narratives 
have also been kept in mind. 

THE FOUR STORY GROUPS. 

Thus the stories fall into four groups. The First Group 
comprises The Seven Little Goats, The Star Dollars, Red Rid- 
ing Hood, Szveet Rice Porridge, Mother Frost, and Rose-Red 



20 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

and Snow-White. These stones are confined chiefly to the 
home circle and deal with the relation of parent and child. 

The Second Group is The Cock and the Hen, The Death of 
the Cock, and Birdie and Lena. These are partly inside and 
partly outside the family circle. There is contact with persons 
outside the home. 

The Third Group is The Wolf and the Fox, The Street 
Musicians, The Straw, The Coal and the Bean, The Wonderful 
Traveler, and Cinderella. This group extends the relationship 
further into the external world. 

Lastly, in the story of Hans and the Four Big Giants, the 
horizon is widened so as to include the separation from the 
home and an independent career among strangers. The Fir 
Tree is added for use as a Christmas story for those who desire 
it. In fact, many of the stories could be taken out of their 
order and be used as introductions to the study of the seasons. 
The Cock and the Hen is an autumn story, while several 
others might be used as dealing with spring time. 



III. 



THE PROBLEM OF CORRELATION. 

The two chief problems of educational practice concern 
the selection and the arrangement or organization of the edu- 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 21 

cative material. The problem of the organization of the sub- 
ject-matter is spoken of as Correlation or Concentration. Any 
proposal silent on this point would not be adequate to the 
best school thought or practice of the hour. 

The main contention over this question hinges on what 
subject should be taken as a center around which other lines 
of instruction should be gathered. Against the proposition to 
use the historical or culture-historical material as such a center 
objections can easily be raised. It will be granted that it does 
not offer an ideal point of departure for all the activities of even 
the primary school. It will be granted further that such a 
center is not the true center of the social life. It is liable to 
over-emphasize the purely intellectual side of instruction at 
the expense of the volitional phases, and it cannot be a center 
for the correlation of number. 

But mathematics and literature do not correlate. Arith- 
metic and formal science have arisen in dealing with the prac- 
tical problems of industrial processes. They are forms which 
industrial processes have taken on. There are some reason- 
able objections to the correlation of what is called "Construc- 
tion Work" with this literature material. 

But, on the whole, the narrative, or story, offers, under 
present conditions, the only practicable center for correlation 
in the first school year. Especially since, at this period, formal 



22 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

number work and science proper are at their minimum. For 
the language arts, — reading, writing, spelling, exercises in oral 
speech, — it is the natural medium. The aesthetic arts, — draw- 
ing and music — and even construction work, can be corre- 
lated here without undue violence to instruction as an organic 
unity. This material, too, furnishes at least a point of depar- 
ture for what is known as nature study. It will find abundant 
inspiration in the animals, plants, and natural objects alluded 
to. 

From what has been said, it will be seen that the stories are 
to be used as a medium of instruction, not just told and en- 
joyed. They are to be regarded as subject-matter to be assim- 
ilated and expressed. They provide a content by means of 
which the various school arts may reverse their usual direc- 
tion and become, so to speak, centrifugal — the spontaneous 
outflowing of the self. 

Merely telling the story does not exhaust its possibilities. 
It should be made a means for the exercise of the entire round 
of childish activities. Unless the understanding is enlarged, 
the sympathies widened, the ethical sense deepened, and steady 
advance made in all lines of technique, the teacher will miss the 
true aim. 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 23 

IV. 

SUGGESTIONS. 

The manner or method of presenting and using the mate- 
rial is based largely on Herbart's "Formal Steps." Though 
an effort has been made to get away from their rigidity, no 
teacher can afford to become hampered by the requirements 
of a too rigid system or a too formal method of instruction. 
Yet there must always be a consciousness of what meets the 
demands of educative instruction. Apperception, or learning, 
takes place under certain conditions only. These conditions 
must be met. 

THE TREATMENT. 

It is not the intention to give a list of set questions whose 
form and order are to be rigidly followed. It is difficult to fix 
upon the precise point where such questions cease to be help- 
ful and suggestive and begin to trench on the legitimate prov- 
ince of the teacher. In order to avoid this unpardonable sin, 
the treatment of some of the stories has been elaborated quite 
fully, to show the work entire as it has been given to children; 
while that of others has been outlined, noting only the main 
points to be brought out and leaving the form of presentation 
largely to the teacher's individuality. 



24 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

Nothing can take the place of originality and spontaneity. 
If a fixed program is followed, the main purpose of the work 
will be missed and the interest for both teacher and children 
will evaporate. In the treatment of the two elements, the 
ethical and the nature material have been separated from each 
other and from the other parts. This is for the purpose of 
emphasizing them in the teacher's mind. The plan need not 
be followed in the actual work. Questions and explanations 
may be introduced into the narration if care be taken that the 
interruption does not break the thread of the story. 

There has been no attempt to divide the subject into les- 
sons. However, the preparation, the narration, and the deep- 
ening should, in most cases, be all that is undertaken in one 
period of fifteen minutes. This is as long as young children 
should be kept to one exercise. If this is done in the morn- 
ing session, the reproduction and the other exercises could 
come in the afternoon session. 

REPRODUCTION. 

A child learns to talk fluently and with correctness by 
talking. Oral speech should come before written speech. If 
the pupil can talk in good English with ease there will not be 
much trouble with written expression. To this end there 
should be much time given to oral reproduction by the chil- 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 25 

dren. Even the most backward child should be encouraged 
to attempt it. There will be a strong temptation to allow the 
brilliant story tellers to do most of the reproducing. Each 
child should be thrown wholly on his own responsibility. Let 
him tell what he can in his own way and reserve corrections 
until he is done. The story itself should be kept fluid. It 
should not be allowed to crystallize into set phrases on the 
part of either teacher or children. Great liberty should be 
allowed in reproduction, so that freshness and spontaneity may 
never be lacking. The reproduction may immediately follow 
the deepening process or be reserved for a separate period. 
It should be given from the beginning frequently, 

THE PREPARATION- 

It is well to give the aim or purpose of the Story first. This 
may be in the form of a brief outline giving the general direc- 
tion which the story is to take. Some such hint seems a peda- 
gogical necessity. Nothing is so tiresome to an adult, even, as 
to listen to a discourse whose aim and purpose are not appar- 
ent. And then the movement as a whole should be in the 
mind of the children from the first. 

It is in accordance with sound pedagogy to bring to the 
foreground of consciousness the ideas already possessed by 
the children, and known to be related to what is to be pre- 



26 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

sented. The new is learned or understood (apperceived) by 
the old. That which has been once assimilated enters into 
and modifies old concepts; these in turn classify the new 
material and reduce it to order and unity. It is therefore 
important that, before a story is told, the related ideas be 
brought forward ready for use by means of a few well directed 
questions. In many cases the proper result may be attained 
by suggesting a difficulty or problem for the children to solve. 

THE NARRATION. 

After the preparation follows the story. It should be given 
in short divisions. Each such division should be as far as 
possible a dramatic unity, subordinate of course to the main 
one. 

The story should be told, not read. Every primary teacher 
should be a story teller. Anyone that has felt the deep, enthu- 
siastic response of children to a story well told will feel amply 
repaid for any effort to cultivate the art of story telling. On 
this point few suggestions can be given. The main elements 
of good story telling are intrinsically connected with the emo- 
tional and spiritual endowments. A genuine appreciation of 
child-nature must be combined with a lively and emotional 
manner of expression. 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 27 

THE DEEPENING. 

It is wise in most cases to question on the main points of 
the narration. This fixes them in the children's minds so that 
reproduction of the story will more readily follow. The 
amount of such questioning must be determined by the needs 
of the class. Only the main points should be dwelt upon. 
[With young children details should be avoided. 

THE NATURE-MATERIAL. 

The best way to widen the experience of children is to 
bring them into actual contact with things. But, as organized 
and carried on at present, the school can do very little of this 
first-hand teaching. However, at school age, such is the activ- 
ity of childhood, most children have a considerable body of 
nature experience which can be used as interpretative concepts 
for new and similar material. Careful teaching will always 
aim to discover what experience the individual members of 
a class have had in order that inadequate ideas may be 
strengthened and given greater detail. This may be done by 
some child's telling his experience, by the teacher giving the 
information — using descriptions, pictures or drawings, — or 
finally by proper questioning. 

Starting from what is already known, a skillful teacher can 
build up an idea, though of course more or less indefinite, of 



28 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

the object or process that is comparatively unknown. Ques- 
tioning can never do more than bring into explicitness what 
is really in the mind in a vague way. Yet, when we consider 
that the possibilities of all science and, in fact, of all knowl- 
edge, are implicit in the experiences of the normal child of 
school age, it is seen that the use of questions as an educative 
means is practically unlimited and that it should not be 
neglected even in the primary grades. 

There is in the stories an abundance of nature-material and 
of material bearing on industrial occupations and processes 
that may serve, when properly used, as an excellent basis for 
mental growth in these directions. In making sure that ideas 
along these lines are clear, a foundation is being laid for a 
more vital grasping of geographical instruction later on. 

The old object-lesson was an effort in this direction, but 
its formality and isolation killed it. It is not the purpose to 
recommend formal object lessons. The main purpose should 
be to see that the allusions to natural objects and to indus- 
trial occupations and processes are understood. And if they 
are not, to bring them into adequate clearness by proper 
instruction. 

THE ETHICAL MATERIAL. 

There is a wide difference, so far as method is concerned, 
between setting forth the moral to a tale in an explicit way 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 29 

and allowing children to express their judgments upon con- 
crete facts of conduct. The latter is all that should be 
attempted. In the reaction from formal moral instruction 
there is danger of going to the other extreme and neglecting it 
entirely. 

The vital element in literature — its ultimate raison d'etre 
— is its ethical import. It constitutes the ethical medium. It 
gives each child the benefit of the experience of the race. The 
duty of the school to give occasion for the exercise of ethical 
judgments is greater than its duty to train the merely intel- 
lectual judgment. For the one determines what is good or 
bad, the other what is real or unreal. Right conduct is of 
more importance than mere knowing. 

READING. 

The teaching of the mechanics of reading concerns itself 
with affixing visual images of words to the auditory vocabulary 
already possessed by the child. As this is a purely formal pro- 
cess, having little educative value in itself, the judicious teacher 
will welcome any suggestion toward minimizing routine drill. 
Instead of attempting to fix the visual form of each word, 
she will limit the formal instruction to giving the child a 
capability of deciphering new words for himself, that is, of 
translating them into motor images of articulation, Instruc- 



30 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

tion that does not give to the child this capability is wasting 
time and misdirecting energy. 

In order to have facility in the mastering of new words, 
it is necessary that there be a knowledge of the vocal value 
of the letters and an acquaintance with the groups into which 
words may be separated according to similarity of sound. 
Thus daily short drills upon the purely formal side seems a 
necessity. This should be done in a separate exercise, how- 
ever. 

At the same time this formal process should not be wholly 
divorced from the thought side. The learner should be able 
to grasp quickly the meaning the sentence conveys as a whole, 
and to give it natural expression. To make this connection 
between the two elements as close as possible, the sentences to 
be given visual form should be taken from the children them- 
selves. These can be written on the board, or printed in large 
type on Manila sheets (forming a chart),* or in ordinary type 
on slips to be given to the children. 

The possession by the class of the common subject-matter 
which the stories supply, renders this plan feasible and always 
full of interest. Knowledge of the content will reinforce the 
recognition of words and sentences and thus make progress in 
acquiring a visual vocabulary rapid and, in part, unconscious. 
Moreover, the anticipation of the meaning of what is about 



* The Flanagan Chart Outfit is valuable for this purpose. 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. 31 

to be read will result in a natural expression of it. If the 
child has even a provisional grasp of the meaning of the whole 
sentence before attempting to read it, the expression will 
largely take care of itself. Until the comprehension of the 
meaning is instantaneous, there should always be a preliminary 
study of the sentence to be read, so that the thought as a 
whole may at least be foreshadowed in the mind of the child. 

In this way there is a vital relation between reading as a 
formal process and that which is read. This obviates the neces- 
sity of using isolated and unfamiliar topics as well as those 
having no value in themselves. From the first the reading 
matter should have value for the child — be related to his stage 
of thought and to his dominant interests. 

DRAWING, ETC. 

The stories are an excellent source from which to draw 
material for expression in the various aesthetic exercises — 
drawing, 'paper cutting, modeling clay, or dramatization. 
Whatever the form, it should be the spontaneous portrayal 
of the child's own imagery. However crude the product may 
be, if it is a genuine attempt at such expression, it has the 
essential element of an aesthetic creation and should have 
our respect as such. With a very little instruction in putting 



32 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

on sky and ground, in representing distance, progress will be 
rapid. 

Drawing should be in a color medium, and be a daily exer- 
cise. Paper-cutting is of absorbing interest to children and 
is a form of school art that rapidly gives definiteness to the 
images of natural objects. It brings out a high degree of man- 
ual dexterity and offers almost as wide a scope for individual 
composition as drawing. 

These exercises, not needing the teacher's immediate direc- 
tion, can take the place of the many forms of meaningless 
"busy work" that a misdirected ingenuity has devised for the 
purpose of keeping children "still." 

DRAMATIZATION. 

Another form to which the stories lend themselves readily 
is dramatization. Children take intense delight in throwing 
striking situations into dramatic form. This exercise also 
should be undirected. If the story has not become crystallized 
into set phrases, this form of reproduction becomes a genuine 
language exercise. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

In the foregoing we have examples of artistic creation. 
There is a spontaneous impulse toward embodying in a suit- 



INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION. a3 

able form the child's own imagery. This activity goes on for 
its own sake; it gives pleasure. 

In construction proper, where direction is given and ob- 
jects are made from dictation to serve a useful purpose, we 
have activity passing over into what is called work. This side 
should not be neglected. Children are to live in a real world, 
where the purpose of activity is not always in the activity itself 
but may lie in something external to it. Things have to be 
made for certain definite purposes and because of certain needs. 
These control the activity. 

While it may be admitted that the stories do not form the 
ideal connection for uniting such activity with the whole, yet, 
under present conditions, they offer the only means practi- 
cable. Children will take a deeper interest in making Red 
Riding Hood's basket than in making one that has not this 
ideal environment. 

Attention is called to that excellent little manual, "Con- 
struction Work," by Worst, where measurements and direc- 
tions can be found for the construction of most of the familiar 
articles of the household. 



SIXTEEN STORIES 



AND 



HOW TO USE THEM. 



THE SEVEN LITTLE GOATS. 

I. 

Preparation. 

We are going to hear a story of a mother goat who left her 
seven little ones at home while she went into the forest to get 
food for them. 

Who has not seen a goat? What do we call a young goat? 
What kind of food will the mother goat get? 

Have you ever been left alone? Were you not told how 

to behave? What do you suppose the mother goat told her 

little ones as she went away? Let us hear. 

35 



36 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

Narration. 

THE MOTHER GOAT. 

Once there lived an old goat who had seven young ones. 
She loved them as every mother loves her children. One day 
she wished to go into the forest to get food for her children. 
So, calling them to her, she said: 

"Dear children, I am going into the forest to get you some- 
thing to eat. Now be on your guard against the wolf; for, if 
he comes here, he will eat you up. But you will know him 
by his rough voice and his black feet." 

The little goats replied: "Dear mother, we will be very 
careful and pay close attention to what you say. You need 
not be at all anxious about us." So the mother bleated a 
good-bye and ran off quite contented. 

Model Treatment. 

i Why was the mother goat going to the forest ? 

About what animal did she tell them ? 

How were they to know him ? Tell what the little goats said in reply. 

Reproduction by the children. 

2. Where have you seen a goat ? What animal does the goat look like ? 
What does he eat ? Where does he live ? What kind of a voice has the 
goat ? What kind of feet has he ? 

Tell what you know about a forest ? What is found in a forest? 

3. Tell what the goat did that shows she was a kind and careful mother? 
Who cares for you and gives you food and clothing and sends you to 
school ? What does your father do to help care for you ? Your mother ? 

Tell the promise the little goats made. 
Tell how you think they acted. 



THE SEVEN LITTLE GOATS. 37 

II. 

Preparation. 

The story will now tell us how the wolf came and tried to 
get into the house. How do you think he tried to get in? 
Tell how he might get in. 

Narration. 

THE WOLF. 

Not long after the mother had gone the little goats heard 
a knock at the door, and pretty soon a deep, rough voice said: 
"Open the door, my dear children; it is your mother. She 
has brought each of you something to eat." But the little 
goats cried out: "You are not our mother. You have a great, 
rough voice. You are the wolf." 

So the wolf went to a shop near by where he bought some 
chalk. He ate this and it made his voice soft and fine. Then 
he came back and knocked again, and called out as softly as 
he could, "Open the door, dear children; your mother has 
come from the forest and wants to get in." 

But the little goats were still afraid and said, "Put your 
feet on the window-sill so that we can see them." The wolf 
did so and they at once cried out, "Oh! you are not our 



38 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

mother. You have black feet. You are the wicked wolf." 
So the wolf turned and went away. 

Model Treatment. 

i. What did the wolf say when he came the first time ? How did the 
goats know him? What did he do? How did the goats know him the 
second time he came ? 

Reproduction of the story from the beginning. 

2. Where does the wolf live ? What kind of home has he ? Is he a 
tame animal ? What kind of food does he eat ? What animal does he look 
like ? Is his voice like the goat's ? Are their feet alike ? 

3. Have the little goats kept their promise to their mother ? Do you 
like the way they have acted? Do you like the way the wolf acted? 



III. 



Preparation. 

The story now tells us how the wolf finally got into the 
house and what he did there. 

How do you think the wolf succeeded in deceiving the 
goats? How did he change his voice? Do you wish to hear 
what the wolf next did? 

What do you think he did? He made his voice soft and 
loving like that of the mother goat. Do you think he could 
make his feet like hers? How could he? 

Let us hear what he did with his feet. 



THE SEVEN LITTLE GOATS, 39 

Narration, 

THE WOLF IN THE HOUSE. 

The wolf did not know now what to do. Presently he 
thought, "I will go to the baker." So to the baker he went 
and said, "I have hurt my feet; put some dough on them." 
The baker felt sorry for the wolf and put some dough on his 
feet. 

Then the wolf ran to the miller and in a rough voice said, 
"Strew some white flour on my feet." The miller, thinking 
the naughty wolf was going to deceive some one, did not want 
to do it. But the wolf said, "If you do not do so at once, I 
will eat you." This made the miller afraid. So he powdered 
the wolf's feet with flour. 

This done, the wolf went a third time to the door of the 
house and said softly, "Open the door for me, dear children. 
It is your mother. I have come back and brought each one 
of you something nice to eat." 

But the little goats still remembered what their mother had 
said and called out, "Show us your feet and we shall know 
whether you are our mother or not." The wolf put his feet 
in the window as before. Now, when the little goats saw that 
the feet were white, they thought that it was really their dear 
mother and opened the door. 



40 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

But who should walk in but the wicked wolf! The little 
goats were terribly frightened and each one ran to hide him- 
self as best he could. One ran under the table, the second 
hid in the bed, a third jumped into the oven, a fourth slipped 
into the cupboard, a fifth hid in the back kitchen among the 
pots and pans, a sixth hid under the wash-tub, and the seventh 
hid in the clock case. But the wolf found them all and ate 
them one after the other, — all but the youngest that hid in the 
clock case. He did not find him. 

Then he said to himself, "Well, well! I am tired. I must 
have a nap/' And he went out into the green meadow and 
lay down to sleep under a tree by a little brook. 

Model Treatment. 

i . What did the wolf say to the baker ? What to the miller ? How- 
were the goats deceived ? Where did each one hide ? Which one was 
saved ? 

Reproduction from beginning. 

2. Tell what the baker does? The miller? Have you seen a mill 
where flour is made ? 

How is flour made? What grains are used to make flour? What grains 
have you seen growing? What name do we give to the persons that raise 
grain for us ? 

3. Tell why the baker put dough on the wolf's feet ? Why did the 
miller put flour on ? Had the wolf really hurt his feet? Describe the wolf's 
conduct. What do you think of him ? 



THE SEVEN LITTLE GOATS. 41 

IV. 
Preparation. 

We shall next hear about the mother goat's return and 
about how she felt and what she did. 

Tell what you think she did. 

Can you think of any way she could get her dear children 
again? 

Where did the wolf go? What did he do? 

Narration. 

THE MOTHER GOAT'S RETURN. 

Well, it was Hot long before the mother goat came back 
from the forest with the food for her children. When she 
came near the house, what a sight met her eyes! The door 
stood wide open. The table, the chairs and the benches were 
overturned. The dishes were broken. The quilts and pillows 
were on the floor. She was amazed. She looked around, but 
not one little goat could she see. She sought for them, but 
not one could she find. She called each by his name, but no 
one answered. 

Finally she heard a frightened little voice call out, "Dear 
mother, here I am, hid in the clock case." The mother goat 



42 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

opened the clock. There, sure enough, was the youngest 
little goat. As soon as he could speak, he told his mother what 
had happened and how the wicked wolf had swallowed the 
other little goats. 

The mother goat was so grieved at first that she could not 
think what to do. But presently she ran out, followed by her 
youngest child. As they came to the meadow they saw the 
wolf lying under the tree fast asleep. Then the mother 
thought, "Perhaps my children are still alive." 

She sent the little goat to the house to fetch a pair of 
shears, a needle, and some thread. She cut the wolf's body 
open and one of the little goats peeped out. As she cut far- 
ther, one after another the six little goats jumped out. What 
joy there was! "Now, children," said the mother, u go fetch 
some stones." With these she filled up the wolf's stomach. 
She then sewed up his body. 

By and by the wolf got upon his feet. He was thirsty and 
went down to the brook to get a drink. As he put his head 
dow r n to drink the heavy stones in his stomach made him fall 
into the water and he was drowned. When the little goats 
saw this they cried, "The wolf is dead! The wolf is dead!" and 
danced for joy. 



THE SEVEN LITTLE GOATS. 



43 



Model Treatment. 

i. Tell what the mother goat saw on her return. Tell about her grief. 
What did she do ? Who finally replied ? How were the little goats saved ? 
What became of the wolf ? 

Reproduce from the beginning. 

2. Tell what you know about a meadow. What grows there? What 
is the difference between a forest and a meadow ? 



Detail of Form Work, 



< 


MAKING. 


DRAWING. 


CUTTING. 


DRAMATIZATION. 


I. 


House of paper. 
Goat modeled 
in clay. 


The Mother Goat 
and her seven 
little ones. 


The Goat in the 
forest . 


The Goat and her 

little ones. 


II. 


Table (see Worst, 
Ex III). Wolf 
modeled in 
clay. 


The Wolf knock- 
ing at the door. 


The Wolf at the 

door. 


The Wolf knocks at 
the door ; the little 
goats detect him. 


III. 


Bed (see Worst, 
Ex. V). 


The Wolf and the 
Miller. 


The Wolf and the 
Baker. 


The Wolf interviews 
the Miller and the 
Baker. 


IV. 


Clock Face (see 
Worst, Ex. 63). 


The Wolf in the 
meadow under 
the tree. 


The Kids dancing 
for joy. 


The Mother Goat's 
return. 



44 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

THE STARDOLLARS. 

I. 

Preparation. 

The story of a little girl who had neither father nor mother, 
nor any one to care for her. 

A talk about the helplessness of a child in that condition. 

Narration. 

AT HOME. 

There was once a very little girl who lived with her parents 
in a pretty little cottage near a great forest. I do not know 
what her name was. Her parents were kind and good and 
loved her dearly, for she was a very sweet and loving child. 

They lived together happily in their cheerful little home. 
Her parents gave her food and clothing and at night she slept 
in a warm, snug little bed very near them. These were happy 
times, indeed! 

But all at once her dear father and mother took sick and 
died, and she was left all alone with no one to care for her or 
give her food. For a time she lived in the cottage; but at last 
there was nothing left for her to eat but half a loaf of bread. 

She was forsaken by all and wandered alone out into the 



THE STARDOLLARS. 45 

fields where the corn, the flowers and the potatoes grew. But 
she did not cry nor get discouraged, for she thought that her 
Heavenly Father would care for her, 

Suggestions. 

Dependent on parents for food, clothing and shelter. Work of father. 
Of mother. Mission of mother goat recalled. 



II. 

Preparation. 

The children tell what the little girl might see and what 
might happen to her. 

Narration. 

IN THE FIELDS. 

As she wandered there alone in the fields, she saw the 
stalks of corn waving their tasseled heads. She thought they 
were nodding a good morning to her. The flowers, too, 
seemed friendly. 

As she went along she met an old man. His back was 
bowed with age and his hair was white as snow. His clothes 
were torn and thin. In a feeble voice he asked her to give 
him something to eat, as he was very hungry. 

The little girl was so sorry for him that she gave him the 



48 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

half loaf of bread which she carried in her pocket. "God bless 
you, my child," he said. 

She next met a little girl who was still poorer than she was, 
for she had nothing on her head. Our little girl at once took 
off her own hood and gave it to the poorer child. 

To another child she gave her cloak. At last she met still 
another child who was crying, and almost naked. To her she 
gave her dress. As night was coming on she entered a great 
forest, where there were many wild berries. She heard the 
birds singing and saw many friendly animals, and here she 
passed the night. 

Suggestions. 

Talk about what was seen in the field. Also about the corn, the flow- 
ers, the berries, the birds, and the animals. 

Bring out the child's sympathy and unselfishness. 

III. 
Preparation. 

What might happen to the child in the forest. 
Narration. 

IN THE FOREST. 

The little girl felt that the great trees were her friends. 
When it grew quite dark she lay down beneath the broad- 
spreading branches of a tree and tried to sleep. 



THE STARDOLLARS. 47 

She could see through the leaves far into the deep blue sky. 
The stars shone brightly and the great, round moon looked 
down at her. When the stars twinkled, she thought they 
were casting bright glances at her. And, as she watched 
them, all at once they left their places and fell out of the sky 
right down to the earth. 

She watched where they fell and, by the bright light of the 
moon, she saw that they had become bright, hard, silver dol- 
lars. When she gathered them up there were so many that, 
ever afterward, there was enough to buy everything she needed 
to eat and to wear. 

Suggestions. 

A talk about moon, stars, and sky. 

Tell something that shows the little girl was brave; that she was gen- 
erous. Who befriended her ? 




48 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. 

I. 

Preparation. 

A story of a little girl who was sent to see her sick grand- 
mother. 

She met a wolf and talked with him. 
She was in great danger, but was saved. 
Talk of family relations. 

Narration. 

AT HOME. 

Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who lived with 
her father and mother in a little house near the woods. This 
child had a grandmother who lived by herself in a little house 
on the other side of the woods. The grandmother loved the 
little granddaughter dearly and was very kind to her. 

One time she made the child a little cloak with a red hood. 
The little girl looked very pretty in her cloak and hood; and 
when she skipped along the street the neighbors would say, 
"Here comes our little Red Riding Hood. ,, 

One day Little Red Riding Hood's mother called to her, 
"Come, my child, put on your cloak and hood. I want you 



LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. 49 

to go to see how dear grandmother is to-day. This is her 
birthday, and you may take her a little present. See, in this 
basket I have put a loaf of bread, a pat of fresh butter, and 
a bottle of wine. 

And now, little daughter, listen to me. Do not leave the 
path. If you meet any one, say 'Good morning' politely, but 
do not stop to talk." 

The little one said, "Yes, mother, I will mind all you say." 
She then took the basket, kissed her mother, and skipped along 
the way to grandmother's house, 

II. 
Preparation. 

Recall wolf. Talk about woods. Explain path. 

Narration. 

IN THE WOODS. 

As Red Riding Hood went along the path in the woods 
she met a big gray wolf. He was a hungry wolf, and when 
he saw this rosy-cheeked little girl he wanted to eat her. But 
he was afraid because there were woodcutters at work near by. 
He came close to Red Riding Hood and spoke to her. 
"Good morning, little girl," he said, "where are you going?" 



50 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

"Good morning, sir," said Red Riding Hood; "I am going to 
see my dear grandmother, who is sick." 

"What have you in the basket?" asked the wolf. "Oh, I 
have a little present for my grandmother," said Red Riding 
Hood. "I am taking her a loaf of bread, a pat of butter, and 
a bottle of wine. This is my dear grandmother's birthday." 

"Why don't you pick a bunch of these lovely flowers for 
your grandmother?" said the wolf. "Oh, I mustn't leave the 
path," answered Red Riding Hood; "my mother said so." 
"She never meant that," said the wolf. "She would be pleased 
to have you take some of these beautiful flowers to your poor 
sick grandmother. Where does your grandmother live?" 

"Grandmother lives in the little house at the end of this 
path," said Red Riding Hood. "There are three tall trees be- 
hind the house and nut bushes growing near." 

"Well, good-bye, little girl," said the wolf; "be sure you 
pick a large bunch of flowers for your grandmother." And off 
he strolled along the path towards the grandmother's house. 

When he got there he knocked at the door. The dear old 
grandmother was lying down on the bed. She called out, 
"Who is there?" "It is I, Red Riding Hood," answered the 
wolf; "I have brought you a birthday present." 

"Pull the string and the latch will fly up," said the grand- 
mother. The wolf pulled the string that hung on the out- 



LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. 51 

side of the door. Sure enough, the latch flew up and the door 
swung open. 

Oh, how r astonished the poor old grandmother was when 
the door opened and in walked this big, hungry-looking wolf 
instead of her dear little Red Riding Hood! 

The wolf gave her no time to cry out. He sprang upon the 
bed and swallowed the poor frightened grandmother before 
she had time to say a word. 

Then he dressed himself in her night-gown and cap and 
got into bed. 

Suggestions . 

Question to connect and deepen the story. 

Have interesting talks about trees, animals, flowers, sights and sounds 
of the woods. 

Work of the woodcutters. 

Recall conduct of the wolf in "The Wolf and The Seven little Goats." 
Deceit. Disobedience. 

III. 
Preparation. 

Recall preceding part of story. Talk of the danger await- 
ing Red Riding Hood. 

Narration. 

AT GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE. 

By and by little Red Riding Hood came to her grand- 
mother's house carrying her basket and the flowers she had 
gathered. She knocked at the door. 



52 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

"Who is there?" asked a voice. "It is little Red Riding- 
Hood, grandmother," answered the child. "Pull the string 
and the latch will fly up," said the voice. Red Riding Hood 
pulled the string. Up flew the latch, the door opened, and she 
went in. 

"I wish you a happy birthday, grandmother," she said. 
"See, I have brought you a little present and some pretty flow- 
ers." "Put them away," said the voice from the bed, "and 
come here; for I wish to talk to you." Red Riding Hood 
went over to the bed to talk to her grandmother. 

Of course it was not her dear grandmother, but the wolf. 
But she did not know that. 

Red Riding Hood sat down on the bed. The room was so 
dark that she could not see very well. But she wondered at 
the strange looking face that looked at her from her grand- 
mother's nightcap. 

"O grandmother," she said, "what big ears you have." 
"The better to hear you, my child." "O grandmother, what 
great eyes you have." "The better to see you, my child." 
"O grandmother, what a big nose you have." "The better to 
smell you, my child." "O grandmother, what long teeth you 
have." "The better to eat you, my child," cried the wolf; and 
he sprang up and was just about to swallow poor little Red 
Riding Hood when the door burst open and in came the wood- 
cutters, who soon killed the wolf. 



LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. 53 

Red Riding Hood told her mother all that had happened. 

"I was a naughty girl, dear mother," she said, "to listen 
to the wolf instead of obeying you; but I will never, never 
do so again." 

Suggestions. 

Obedience and disobedience. Recall conduct of the little goats in the 
story of "The Wolf and The Seven Little Goats." 

Consequence of disobedience as shown in the story of Red Riding Hood ; 
as found in the children's own experience. 




>£s4 



54 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, 



THE SWEET RICE PORRIDGE. 

I. 

Preparation. 

A story of a little girl and her mother who had nothing to 
eat. Talk of possible reasons for the child and mother's hav- 
ing nothing to eat. 

Narration. 

THE LITTLE GIRL AND HER MOTHER. 

There was once a little girl who was very, very poor. 
When noon came there was little dinner on the table for her, 
and at night the poor child went hungry to bed. 

In the morning, when she awoke, she was still hungry. 
She went to the pantry, but there was nothing to eat in it. 
She went to the kitchen and found nothing there but empty 
pots and pans. 

Then the little girl went to her mother. "O mother," she 
said, "I am so hungry." But the poor mother was sick in bed 
and could not get anything for herself or for her child. 



THE SWEET RICE PORRIDGE. 55 

When the mother was well she worked hard. She picked 
up wood in the forest. She washed clothes and scrubbed 
floors. With the money she earned she bought food for her 
little daughter and herself. But now the mother was sick. 
She lay in bed all day, and both she and her daughter were 
hungry. 

Now, do you think the little girl fretted and cried? No, 
she did not, because she knew that if she cried her sick mother 
would feel so sorry and sad that she would be worse. This 
little girl was patient and kind. She found at last one little 
piece of bread. She took it to her mother and said, "Here, 
dear mother, is a piece of bread for you. Eat it; it may make 
you stronger." 

Suggestions. 



Recall "The Stardollars' • story. Bring out this child's patience and 
unselfishness. 



II. 

Preparation. 

An old woman gave the child something of great use. 
What could it be? 



56 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, 

Narration. 

THE WONDERFUL POT. 

The little girl thought, "Is there not something I can do 
to help my sick mother?" She did not sit down with her hands 
in her lap and wait for something to eat to come to her. She 
said to herself, "I must work. What can I do? I am too 
small to wash clothes. I am too small to scrub floors. But I 
can go out into the woods. I will find herbs there and berries. 
I can gather them and sell them. Then I will buy bread, and 
we need not be hungry any more." 

So the little girl went out into the woods. There she found 
ripe berries. She began to pick them and put them into her 
little basket. An old, old woman saw her. She stood and 
watched the child. She saw her poor, thin little face, and 
that the child did not jump about and laugh and sing as 
other children did when they came to the woods. She saw, 
too, that this child did not eat even the smallest berry. As 
fast as she picked them she dropped them into her small basket. 

The old woman's heart was full of pity for the poor little 
child. She said, "My child, I will help you." Then she gave 
her a little earthen pot. It seemed a queer thing to give to 
this child who had so many empty pots at home. But this was 
a wonderful pot. The old woman told the child all about it. 
She said, "My child, this little pot will cook very sweet and 



THE SWEET RICE PORRIDGE. 57 

good rice porridge for you, and you need not put anything 
into it at all. Just say, "Little Pot, Cook!" and it will begin 
to cook the sweet rice porridge. When you have enough 
say, "Little Pot, Stop!" and it will stop. The little girl thanked 
the kind old woman and ran home with the wonderful pot. 

Suggestions. 

Rice, its uses, preparation for food. Where obtained. Explain earthen 
pot. Pottery. 

Helping one's self. Children tell of ways in which they can help 
themselves. 

III. 

Preparation. 

The child carries the pot home. Recall the old woman's 
directions. 

Narration. 

THE MOTHER WELL AGAIN. 

The little girl ran home as fast as she could run. "O clear 
mother," she said, "see what a good old woman gave me. It 
is such a wonderful pot. All we need do is to say, 'Little Pot, 
Cook!' and it will cook rice porridge for us. When we have 
enough, we must say, 'Little Pot, Stop!' and it will stop cook- 
ing." 

Then the little girl set the pot on the hearthstone. The 
mother called out, "Little Pot, Cook!" Her voice was weak, 



58 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, 

but the little pot heard and began to cook. Soon it was full 
up to the very top with rice porridge. Then the mother called 
out, "Little Pot, Stop!" and the wonderful little pot stopped. 
Oh, how quickly the little girl ran to the cupboard! She 
brought out plates and spoons, and soon she and the poor 
sick mother were eating sweet rice. 

Suggestions. 

Different kinds of berries. Where they grow. 
Explain self-help. 

IV. 

Preparation. 

One day the wonderful pot did not stop. The children 
imagine a cause. 

Narration. 

THE FLOOD OF RICE. 

The mother was soon so well and strong that she could go 
to her work again. Every day she and her daughter had rice 
porridge for breakfast. When they had eaten their breakfast 
the mother always put the pot away on a shelf and said, "Now, 
little daughter, be a good girl. Take care of the house and do 
not touch the little pot while I am gone. When I come home 
we shall have some more of the porridge you like so much." 



THE SWEET RICE PORRIDGE, 59 

And the little girl kissed her mother and promised to obey 
her. This happened for many days. But one day the little 
girl said to herself, "Dear me, I am very hungry. How good 
some of that rice porridge would taste. I am sure I wouldn't 
break the little pot. I would be so very careful." 

She said this many times to herself. At last she stood 
upon a chair and reached up to the high shelf where her 
mother had put the little pot. She took it down and set it 
on the hearthstone. Then she said, "Little Pot, Cook!" The 
little pot heard and began to cook. The little girl got a plate 
and spoon and taking some rice sat down to eat. 

But she forgot all about speaking to the little pot and it 
went on cooking. The child was so busy eating that she never 
noticed what was happening. The wonderful pot was still 
cooking and the rice porridge began running over. When the 
little girl saw it, she called out, "Here, that is enough!" But 
the little pot did not stop and the rice porridge poured out over 
the floor. 

The little girl was frightened. She called out very loud, 
"That is enough! Cook no more! Halt! Halt!" It was all 
of no use. She had forgotten the right words to say and the 
little pot kept on cooking. The rice porridge was still pour- 
ing out into the room. Soon the chairs and the table were 
standing in it. The little girl was more frightened than ever. 



60 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

She opened the door and ran out into the yard and rice por- 
ridge came streaming out after her. 

How the other children of the neighborhood laughed and 
shouted when they saw the stream of rice porridge! They 
came running with spoons in their hands and began to eat it. 
All the older people laughed and wondered, too. 

But soon the people became anxious. They said, "This 
rice porridge will get into our houses and we shall all be 
drowned in it." So the people and their children ran into their 
houses and shut all the doors and windows to keep out the 
rice porridge. The streets were full of it. It rose up higher 
and higher. It covered up the windows so that their houses 
were as dark as night. 

Suggestions. 

Who else was disobedient in the stories we have had ? What trouble 
did they have? 

V. 
Preparation. 

The valley in which this child lived filled up. 

Narration. 

THE VALLEY FILLED UP. 

The little girl's home was down in a valley. High up on 
the mountain there stood a beautiful house. Rich persons 



THE SWEET RICE PORRIDGE. 61 

lived there, and the little girl's mother often went to work for 
them. This very day, when the little girl had been so dis- 
obedient, her mother was working in the house away up on 
the mountain. 

When the little girl saw the rice porridge streaming out 
into the streets and filling up the valley, she ran up the moun- 
tain's side as fast as she could to tell her mother all that had 
happened. As soon as she saw her mother, she called out, 
"O mother, I took down the little pot and told it to cook. 
When I wanted it to stop I forgot what to say. It won't stop 
cooking, and the whole valley is full of rice porridge." 

The mother called out softly "Little Pot, Stop!" and the 
little pot heard her and stopped. But still the whole valley 
was full of rice porridge. It covered the houses. It was up 
even to the church steeple. 

When the milkmen came in the morning they saw it. 
They called out, "What is this?" The people shouted back, 
"It is rice porridge. If you want to come to us, you must dig 
your way through." And it was so. Whoever wanted to go 
into that valley had to dig his way through the sweet rice por- 
ridge that filled it. 

For many days the people were busy eating rice porridge. 
As for the little girl who had caused all this trouble, she felt 
very sorry and ashamed, and I am sure was never disobedient 
again. 



62 



THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, 



Suggestions. 

Recall mention of mountains in other stories. Talk about mountains 
and valleys. Illustrate by pictures or, if possible, by moulding in clay or 
sand. 

Emphasize the thought of obedience. Compare with previous stories. 




MOTHER FROST. &* 

MOTHER FROST. 
I. 

Preparation. 

A story of a mother and her two daughters. One was 
beautiful and lazy, the other ugly and industrious. The 
mother loved the beautiful one and allowed her to be idle, 
but she made the industrious one do all the spinning and 
household work. 

Talk of the different kinds of household work. Explain 
spindle, spinning, and a well. 

Narration. 

THE LOST SPINDLE. 

There was once a widow who had two daughters. One 
was beautiful and lazy, the other ugly and industrious. The 
mother, however, for some reason showed more love for the 
beautiful one than she did for the ugly one, who did all the 
work about the house. 

Because her mother did not love her, she lived in the 
kitchen and was very sad. The poor maid had to go out every 
day and sit by the great road that ran near the house and 



64 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

spin. Near the road was a deep well. She liked best to sit 
near this because so many travelers stopped there to draw 
the cool water from the deep well. 

She spun so much yarn that her ringers became worn and 
thin, and bled a great deal. One day it happened that her 
spindle slipped from her ringers and fell into the well. 

She was very much frightened and ran home, crying, to her 
mother, and told her that she had lost her spindle in the well. 
The mother scolded her and was so angry that at last she said, 
"Since you have been so careless as to lose your spindle in the 
well, you must get it out again as best you can." 

Suggestions. 

Materials used to make yarn. Wool, cotton, etc. Sources. 

Different ways of spinning. Twisting by the hands. Spinning wheel. 
Uses of yarn. Knitting and weaving. Source of drinking water. Differ- 
ent ways of getting it from a well — buckets, windlass, pump, etc. 

Idleness. Industry. Tell who the idle and who the industrious ones 
are in preceding stories. 



II. 

Preparation. 

Talk about the ways the maid might attempt to regain her 
spindle. Recall meadozv. 



MOTHER FROST. 66 

Narration. 

THE MAID IN THE WELL. 

The maid went back to the road. She did not know how 
to get the spindle out of the well. So she jumped down into 
the water to get it. For a while she did not know anything, 
but presently she found herself in a beautiful meadow where 
the sun was shining and many thousands of flowers blooming 
all around her. 

She got up and walked along till she came to a bake oven. 
The oven was full of bread which cried out, "Draw me out 
or I shall burn. I have baked long enough." So she went up 
and took the bread shovel that stood by the oven and drew out 
one loaf after another. 

Then she w r alked on farther and came to an apple tree. The 
tree cried out, "Shake me! Shake me! My apples are all 
ripe." So she shook the tree till the apples fell down like rain. 
When there were no more left on the tree she gathered them 
into a heap and went on. 

At last she came to a cottage out of which an old woman 
was peeping. The old woman had such large teeth that the 
maid was frightened and started to run away. But the old 
woman called her back, saying, "Why are you afraid, my child? 
Stay with me. If you will put things in order in my house, all 
will go well with you. Only you must be careful and shake 



66 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

my bed well and make the feathers fly. Then it will snow on 
the earth. I am old Mother Frost" 

As the old woman spoke kindly, the timid maid stayed and 
worked for her. Everything was pleasant. Old Mother Frost 
was very kind and the industrious maid was contented. She 
shook the bed well every day and made the feathers fly down- 
ward as flakes of snow. She was very happy. She had enough 
to eat and kind words from Mother Frost. 

Suggestions. 

Talk about apple-trees and orchards. The baking of bread. Connect 
with snow. Jack Frost. Use of snow, etc. 

III. 
Preparation. 

Develop out of the children's experiences the longing for 
home — homesickness. 

Narration. 

THE RETURN HOME. 

The maiden stayed with Mother Frost a long time. But 
after a while she became very sad. She did not know what 
the matter was. At last she found that she was homesick; and, 
although she now fared a thousand times better than when 
at home, she longed to go back. 

So she said to Mother Frost, "I wish to go home to my 
mother and sister." Mother Frost replied, "It pleases me 



MOTHER FROST. 67 

that you wish to go home; and since you have served me so 
faithfully, I will myself take you home." She thereupon took 
her by the hand and led her to a great door. It flew open 
at their coming, and, as the maid stood in the doorway, a 
shower of gold fell upon her. The gold remained sticking 
in her hair, on her dress, and even in her shoes. "All this 
gold is for you because you have been so faithful and indus- 
trious. Here is your spindle also," were the parting words of 
Mother Frost. 

When she stepped out the door closed behind her, and 
the maid found herself near her mother's house. As she came 
into the yard the cock which was perched upon the hen-house 
cried out, "Cock — a — doodle — do! Our golden maid comes 
home again." 

Her mother and sister were surprised to see her, and be- 
cause she had so much gold they welcomed her very heartily. 

Suggestions. 

Talk about source and uses of gold, its qualities, etc. 
What children can do in the home, at school. 

IV. 

Preparation. 

The idle maid now tries to get gold. She throws her 
spindle into the well and jumps in after it. Children tell what 



68 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

they think she will do at the oven, at the apple- tree, at Mother 
Frost's. Will she get gold? Explain pitch. 

Narration. 

THE IDLE MAID. 

The good sister told all that had happened while she was 
away, and when her mother heard how she came by all her 
gold she said to the lazy sister, "You must try your luck, also." 
So the mother had her go and spin by the well. But the lazy 
girl soon became tired of spinning and threw the spindle into 
the well. Then she jumped in after it. 

Like her sister, she came to the beautiful meadow and 
traveled the same path. When she came to the bake oven, 
the bread called, "Draw me out! Draw me out!" But the 
lazy maid said, "I have no wish to make myself dirty with 
you!" 

Soon she came to the apple tree. The tree cried out, 
"Shake me! shake me! My apples are ripe." But the maid 
said, "I will not shake you. Your apples might fall on my 
head." She was not afraid of old Mother Frost, for she had 
heard of her large teeth. She promised to serve her as her 
sister had done. 

The first day she worked hard because she thought of the 
gold. The second day she began to grow careless. The third 



MOTHER FROST. 69 

day she did not get up until noon. Mother Frost said, "I 
think you are tired of working for me. You had better go 
home." The lazy maid was very glad; for she thought, "Now, 
I will get my gold!" 

Mother Frost led her also to the door; but, as she stood 
within the doorway, instead of gold there was a shower of 
pitch. "This is the reward for your service," said Mother 
Frost, and closed the door. As the lazy maid came home the 
cock cried, "Cock — a — doodle — do! Our dirty maid comes 
home again." The pitch stuck to her as long as she lived. 

Suggestions. 

Explain oven, pitch. 

Talk about the industrious maid and her reward. The idle and dis- 
honest one and her punishment. Who was rewarded in "The Stardollar" 
story? Who was punished in "The Seven Little Goati"? In "Red Riding 
Hood"? 




70 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 



SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED, 



Preparation. 

A story of two sisters who lived with their mother in a 
little house in the woods. Their work and play. A bear came 
to the house and became their friend. A wicked dwarf did 
wrong and was punished. Talk of home in the woods, garden. 
Explain zvidow. 

Narration. 

THE HOME. 

Once upon a time, in a little house in the woods, there lived 
a poor widow. The widow had a garden and in the garden 
were two beautiful rose bushes. On one of these bushes there 
grew lovely red roses; on the other the roses were as white as 
snow. 

The widow had two daughters, who were both so sweet 
that she named them after the roses. One of the daughters she 
called Snow-white and the other Rose-red. 



SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED. 71 

The children were both obedient and industrious, yet they 
were not quite alike. Snow-white was quiet and gentle and 
fond of staying in the house with her mother. Rose-red en- 
joyed running about the fields in search of flowers and butter- 
flies. 

Snow-white and Rose-red helped their mother to keep the 
little house clean and neat. They made the fire in the morn- 
ing. They filled the kettle with water from the spring and 
hung it over the fire. It was a very bright little kettle, for it 
was made of copper and was polished till it shone like gold. 

After breakfast the sisters worked cheerfully together. 
Each one had her share of the work. When that was done 
they learned their lessons and did their sewing and knitting. 
In all this their mother was their kind teacher and helper. 

Suggestions. 

The sisters' work. Homes mentioned in other stories. Fire-place men. 
tioned in other stories. Garden. Copper kettle. 

Comparison with home in "Mother Frost." Talk of love and helpful- 
ness in the home. 

II. 

Preparation. 

Talk of play and playmates in the woods. 



72 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

Narration, 

HOW SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED PLAYED. 

Snow-white and Rose-red often played in the woods to- 
gether. They ran about and played hide and seek among 
the trees. They waded in the little river. When they were 
tired of running about and sat down to rest, they made wreaths 
of flowers or leaves which they wore upon their heads. 

Not one of the animals was afraid of them. The hares ate 
cabbage leaves out of their hands. The deer ate grass by their 
side. The squirrels knew the sisters well and came to eat the 
nuts they brought for them. The birds, too, loved them and 
went on building their nests or feeding their young ones. 
At the same time the birds sang their sweetest songs for Rose- 
red and Snow-white. 

Suggestions. 

The hare, the deer, the squirrel, — appearance, habits, home, use to man. 
Compare, for size and strength, with other animals known to the children. 

III. 

Preparation. 

A bear comes to the house. Talk of bears the children 
have seen. 

Explain dwarf, treasure. 



SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED. 73 

Narration, 

THE BEAR. 

It was a cold, stormy night in winter. Snow-white, Rose- 
red and their mother sat by the fire. 

The sisters were knitting while their mother read stories 
to them as they worked. A pet lamb lay at their feet and a 
dove perched upon the shelf above the fire-place. 

Outside, the wind was howling and the snow fell fast. But 
it was warm and bright in the snug little house. 

Suddenly there was a noise at the door. The mother 
stopped reading and listened. She heard the noise again and 
said, "Some poor traveler is lost in this fearful storm. Run, 
dear Snow-white, and let him in." 

Snow-white jumped up and opened the door. In came, 
not a man, but a big, shaggy bear. 

Oh, how frightened the children were! They clung to their 
mother and hid their faces in her dress. The lamb trembled 
and bleated. The dove woke up in a fright and flew about 
the room. 

Presently the bear said, "Do not be afraid. I will not harm 
any of you." The mother answered, "I am sure you will not. 
Come, children, do not be afraid. This is a kind, friendly 
bear." 



74 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, 

Then the mother told the bear to come close to the fire. 
When the children saw him stretched out on the floor, like a 
great dog, they lost their fear of him. Rose-red ran and 
fetched the broom to brush the snow from his coat. 

The poor bear was very cold; but he soon grew warm be- 
fore the bright fire. The children were not at all afraid of 
him now, but got upon his back and rolled off on the floor. 
The bear enjoyed the fun as much as they did. Only, when 
they pulled his rough coat too hard, he would say, "Do not 
hurt your old friend, my dears." 

When bed time came the mother said, "I cannot think of 
turning you out this stormy night. Stay here by the fire." 
The bear thanked her and stretched out on the warm hearth- 
stone. 

In the morning the children opened the door for him, and 
off he trotted into the woods. 

After that the bear came every evening. He lay down 
before the fire and the children played with him until it was 
time to go to bed. 

The winter passed by. The green grass was springing up 
in the meadows, the tiny buds were breaking out into leaves 
md blossoms on the trees. 

One morning the bear said, "Children, I must say good- 
bye to you. I am going away and you will not see me again 
until next winter." "Oh, where are you going, dear bear?" 



SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED. 75 

said Snow-white. "I am going far away into the forest," he 
answered. "There are many precious things buried in the 
ground. In winter they are safe under the frozen earth. In 
the summer, when the sun has made the ground soft, it will 
be easy for the wicked dwarfs who live in the forest to dig 
down and take what I have buried. So I must go to watch 
over my treasures." 

The children felt very sad as they said good-bye to their 
dear playmate; but he promised to come back. 

As he went out the latch of the door caught in his rough 
coat and tore it. Snow-white thought that she saw something 
like gold glittering under the shaggy hair; but she was not 
sure, for the bear trotted away very quickly and soon disap- 
peared among the trees. 

Suggestions. 

The bear, — appearance, home, habits, use to man, etc. The seasons- 
Spring, Winter. 

Kindness and hospitality as shown in the story. 

IV. 

Preparation. 

The sisters see a dwarf who is in trouble. Recall explana- 
tion of dzvarf. Imagine in what trouble he might be. Ex- 
plain zvedge. 



76 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, 

Narration. 

A DWARF IN TROUBLE. 

One day, not long after the bear had gone away, the 
mother sent Snow-white and Rose-red into the woods to 
gather sticks. They saw a big tree which the wind had blown 
down. As they drew near it they noticed something jumping 
up and down on the fallen tree-trunk. At first they could not 
tell what it was; but, when they went nearer, they saw it was 
a little dwarf with a wrinkled face and a long, white beard. 

The tree was split from top to bottom and the dwarfs 
beard was caught and held fast in the crack. He was jump- 
ing about at a great rate, but he could not get free. 

It was really a funny sight to see the dwarf hopping about, 
and Snow-white and Rose-red could not keep from laughing. 
This made the dwarf very angry. He cried out, "Why are 
you standing there laughing instead of coming to help me?" 

The children, as you know, were kind-hearted; and when 
they saw how the dwarf felt they pitied him. 

"Poor little man!" said Rose-red, "how did this happen?" 

"Stupid thing," said the dwarf, "what a silly question. I 
was trying to split this tree that I might get wood for my fire. 
I drove my wedge into the tree, but the wedge flew out. As 



SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED. 77 

the crack closed up again it caught my beard and holds it so 
tight I cannot get it out." 

The children wished to help the poor dwarf. They went 
up to him and tried to pull his beard out of the tree, but all 
their pulling was of no use. "I will go home and get my 
mother," said Rose-red. "No, no," shouted the dwarf, "do 
not bring any more people here." "I think I can help you," 
said Snow-white. She took a little pair of scissors out of her 
pocket and cut the dwarf's beard off close to the tree. 

No sooner was he free than he caught up a bag full of 
gold which was lying among the roots of the tree, swung it 
over his shoulder, and walked away. 

As he went he said something about stupid children who 
had cut his beautiful white beard. And so, grumbling and 
without one word of thanks, he was soon out of sight. 

Suggestions. 

Kindness. Unthankfulness. 

V. 
Preparation, 

The dwarf in trouble again. The children imagine what 
his trouble may be. Explanation of river-bank. Explain 
rushes. 



78 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

Narration. 

THE DWARF FISHING. 

One pleasant summer day Snow-white and Rose-red went 
down to the river. As they sat on the bank they saw some- 
thing which they thought was a big grasshopper jumping 
about. They went closer, to see what it could be, and then 
they saw it was the dwarf. 

"What are you doing?" asked Rose-red; "are you trying 
to jump into the water?" "Do you take me for a fool?" cried 
the dwarf. "Don't you see that this fish is trying to drag me 
into the river?" 

Sure enough, the children saw that the dwarf was in trouble 
again. He was fishing, and the wind had blown his long beard 
about so that it had become tangled in the fish line. A large 
fish was caught upon the hook, and it was pulling as hard as 
it could to get away. 

The dwarf held on by one hand to the rushes on the river 
bank, while with the other hand he tried to untangle his beard 
from the line. But the fish was stronger than the dwarf, and 
if the sisters had not held on to him with all their might he 
would surely have been dragged into the water and drowned. 

They tried hard to free him, but could not. Snow-white 
had to take out her little scissors again, and this time she had 
to cut off a long piece of the dwarf's beard. The dwarf was 
saved, but he was in a great rage because his beard was cut. 



SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED. 79 

He jumped about and scolded the children until he was tired. 

Then he lifted up a bag of pearls, which he had hidden 

among the rushes. Throwing it over his shoulder, he went off. 

Suggestions. 

Talk of rivers seen by members of the class, the uses of rivers, fishing, etc. 
Kindness of Snow-white and Rose-red. Unthankfulness of the dwarf. 



VI. 

Preparation. 

The dwarf is saved from an eagle. What danger the dwarf 
could be in and how he could be saved. Recall former mention 
of eagle, 

Narration. 

THE DWARF AND AN EAGLE. 

One afternoon the mother sent Snow-white and Rose-red 
to town to buy some things for her. They walked through 
the woods and finally came to an open place. No trees grew 
here. It was covered with bushes, and great rocks were lying 
about. 

As the children walked along they saw an eagle flying in 
great circles in the sky. At last he pounced down upon 
something. What it was the sisters could not see, but they 



80 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, 

heard loud cries for help. Snow-white and Rose-red ran to 
the spot from which the cries came. And then they saw the 
poor dwarf in great trouble. 

The eagle had him in his strong claws and was carrying him 
away. The children caught hold of the dwarf's coat and held 
on with all their might. The big bird beat them with his great 
wings. He pecked at them with his strong bill, but they 
hung on to the dwarfs coat. At last the eagle let the dwarf 
go and flew away. 

At first the dwarf could not speak, but stood trembling 
with fright. When he was able to speak he said in a fretful 
voice, "What do you mean by being so rough? See, you 
have torn my beautiful brown coat nearly off my back!" 

Then he turned from them, picked up a bag, flung it over 
his shoulder, and went off. The children could hear him 
scolding about his beautiful brown coat as he went. 

Suggestions. 

The eagle, its habits, etc. 

The bravery of Rose-red and Snow-white. 

VII. 

Preparation. 

The dwarf is punished for wrong doing. Snow-white and 
Rose-red see the bear again. 



SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED. 01 

Recall the bear's visit and the reason of his going away. 
Explain precious stones. 

Narration. 

THE BEAR AGAIN. 

After Snow-white and Rose-red had seen the dwarf dis- 
appear behind the rocks they went on to town. They got the 
things for which they were sent and started back on their way 
home. 

As they were walking along they saw the dwarf. He was 
sitting among the rocks. He had emptied the bag of precious 
stones upon the ground and was admiring them. How the 
stones sparkled and flashed in the sunlight! Snow-white and 
Rose-red stopped to admire them, too. 

"What are you staring at?" cried the dwarf. "Go on about 
your business." He sprang to his feet as if to drive them 
away, when all at once a terrible growl was heard and a big 
brown bear rushed out of the bushes. 

The dwarf tried to run away, but the bear stood right in 
his path. Then the dwarf began to beg in a trembling voice, 
"O, dear Mr. Bear," he said, "spare my life. I am such a 
poor little creature. I would not be a mouthful for you. See, 
here are two nice, plump little girls. Eat them instead of me." 
But the bear paid no attention to him. Without a word he 



82 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

lifted up his fore paw and with one blow laid the dwarf dead 
upon the ground. 

Snow-white and Rose-red, in a great fright, were running 
away; but the bear called to them, "Snow-white, Rose-red, 
do not be afraid; it is I, your old friend and playmate.'* 

They knew his voice and stopped to wait for him. But 
imagine how surprised they were when the shaggy bearskin 
fell to the ground and, instead of a big bear, a handsome 
young man in splendid dress stood before them! 

"I am a king's son," he said; "and that wicked dwarf 
changed me into a bear and robbed me of nearly all my 
treasures. I have been obliged to wander about in the woods. 
At last he is dead and I am free." 

Not many years afterwards Snow-white was married to 
the prince and Rose-red to his brother. 

The sisters took their dear mother to live with them in the 
prince's palace, and they all lived happily forever after. 

The rose bushes were taken to the new home and planted 
in the palace garden. There, year after year, they bore sweet 
red and white roses — just as they had done in the little garden 
in the woods. 

Suggestions. 

Punishment. Gratitude. 
Explain prince, king, palace. 



THE COCK AND THE HEN, 83 



THE COCK AND THE HEN 



Preparation. 

This is a story of a cock and a hen who went to a nut moun- 
tain, and of what happened there. 

A talk about why they would go there and what they would 
find. 

Narration. 

ON THE MOUNTAIN. 

A cock once said to a hen, "It is now the time when the 
nuts are ripe. Let us go to the nut mountain and eat all we 
can before the squirrels carry them all away." "Yes," said 
the hen; "let us go and enjoy ourselves." 

So they went to the mountain together and, as it was a 
bright, sunny day, they stayed there until evening. Now, 
whether it was because they had eaten too much, or whether 
they were too proud, I do not know; but they did not want to 



84 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

go home on foot. The cock thereupon built a small wagon 
out of the nut shells lying about. 

When the wagon was ready, he seated himself in it and 
said to the hen, "You be my horse and pull the wagon for 
me." "Indeed, I will not," said the hen; "you be the horse 
yourself. I will get upon the seat and be driver. I would 
rather walk home than be your horse and pull the wagon." 

While they were quarreling, a duck came out of the bushes. 
She was very angry and said, "Who has given you permission 
to eat nuts on my nut mountain? Wait a minute and it will 
cost you dearly." Then she rushed at the cock with out- 
stretched neck to bite him. But the cock flew at the duck 
and pecked her and struck her with his sharp spurs till she 
was glad enough to stop fighting. The cock then harnessed 
the duck to the wagon. He and the hen got in and away they 
went down the mountain. 

Suggestions. 

A talk with the children about autumn, and about different kinds of 
nuts. Animals that eat them. What animals hoard them for winter use ? 
How does the hen differ from the duck ? Why ? etc. Their food and their 
homes. 

The quarrel. Who was to blame ? Who was proud ? Who was pun- 
ished? Who was punished in "Seven Little Goats"? In "Red Riding 
Hood" ? In "Mother Frost" ? In "Snow-white and Rose-red" ? 



THE COCK AND THE HEN. 85 



II. 



Preparation. 

On their way home the cock and the hen overtake two 
travelers. 

Test the children's knowledge of travelers and travel. 

Narration. 

THE TRAVELERS. 

The cock and the hen had not gone far when they heard a 
voice calling to them to stop. The cock told the duck to stop, 
and found that they had overtaken a pin and a needle travel- 
ing along the road. The cock asked them what they wanted. 
The needle said, "It is now getting dark and we fear that we 
shall lose our way. I have but one eye and the pin has none 
at all. Please be so good as to let us ride with you." 

At first the cock said, "No;" but the travelers begged so 
hard that he at last consented. "You are so small," he said, 
"that you will take up no room. But you must be very care- 
ful not to tread on the hen's toes." 

They promised to be very careful and climbed into the 
wagon at once. The cock told the duck to go on. "You 



86 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

must be quick, Mrs. Duck," he said, "or we shall not get home 
to-night." So the duck waddled along as fast as she could. 
She could not go much faster, for she was getting tired. 

Suggestions. 

Different ways of traveling. 

Who was polite ? Tell who was polite in the previous stories ? Who 
was kind ? 

III. 

Preparation. 

Where they passed the night and what happened. A 
promise. 

The main ideas tested. How did the little girl in "Star- 
dollars" pass the night? Where do travelers usually stay at 
night? 

Explain inn. Innkeeper. 

Narration. 

AT THE INN. 

Late in the evening they came to an inn; and because the 
duck was tired and the night dark, they drove up to the door. 

The cock asked the innkeeper if they might stay over 
night. The innkeeper did not like their looks and said at 



THE COCK AND THE HEN. 87 

first, "No, I have no room, and I think you have no money." 
But the cock replied, "You shall have the egg that the hen has 
laid and the one the duck lays every day." So the innkeeper 
consented. They all went in, ate their supper, and lay down 
to sleep. 

The next morning, long before the other people at the 
hotel were up, the cock and the hen took the egg, broke it, 
and ate it together. The shell, however, they threw into the 
ashes in the fireplace. They then waked up the needle and 
the pin. The needle they stuck into the innkeeper's chair and 
the pin into his towel. The duck, who slept in the yard, heard 
them stirring around and flew to the brook and swam away. 
The cock and the hen then hurried on to their home. 

Suggestions. 

Fireplace. How are our houses heated ? Stoves, furnaces, steam, etc. 
Was the promise kept ? Describe the conduct of the cock and the hen. 

IV. 

Preparation. 

This part tells what happened to the innkeeper when he 
got up next morning. Tell what you think happened. 



88 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

Narration. 

THE INNKEEPER. 

In a couple of hours after the duck had taken to the water 
and the cock and the hen had hurried away, the landlord 
awoke. He got up, put on his clothes, washed himself, and 
reached for the towel. As he wiped his face the pin made a 
deep red scratch across his cheek. This made him angry. 
Then he went into the kitchen to light his pipe. As he leaned 
over the fireplace to get a coal, the eggshell burst and scattered 
the ashes into his face and eyes. This made him more angry. 

He went to his chair to sit down, but quickly jumped up 
again and cried "Ouch!" Now he was very angry and said, 
"Those ragamuffins that came here so late last night did this." 
He went to find them, but they could not be found. Then he 
said, "Never again will I take such people into my house. 
They eat and drink and pay nothing, and play tricks on me 
besides." 

Suggestions. 

What made the eggshell burst ? Do you know anything that explodes ? 
Conduct of the cock and the hen at the inn. The broken promise. 
Did the innkeeper deserve such treatment ? 



DEATH OF THE COCK. 89 

DEATH OF THE COCK. 

I. 

Preparation. 

This story tells of the death of the cock on the nut moun- 
tain, of the sorrow of the hen, and of all the animals; about 
the funeral, and at last about the death of the hen. 

How do you suppose the cock met his death on the nut 
mountain? 

Narration, 

DEATH OF THE COCK. 

Another time the cock and the hen went to the nut moun- 
tain. It was a fine day and they were in the best of spirits. 
"Let us make a promise," said the cock, "that the first one that 
finds a nut will share it with the other." "I agree to that," 
said the hen. 

The cock was the first to find a nut. It was a fine, large 
one. He did not say anything about it, for he wanted it all 
himself. The kernel, however, was so large that it stuck in 



90 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

his throat. He tried every way to get it out, but there it 
stuck. He at last cried to the hen, "Dear hen, run quick and 
fetch me some water or I shall choke to death." The hen ran 
as fast as she could to the brook. But before she could get 
back the cock had choked to death. 

Suggestions. 

Tell about the conduct of the cock. Who acted like the cock in the 
stories we have had ? Who shared food with others ? The cock's punish- 
ment. 



II. 

Preparation. 

The animals were all sorry for the hen and came to help her 
at the funeral. 

Narration. 

THE FUNERAL. 

When the hen returned and found her mate dead, she was 
very sorry, and she began to cry in a loud voice. While she 
was crying there came six little mice, running up to see what 
was the matter. They felt sorry for the poor hen and said, 
"Poor hen, we will help you." Then they made a little wagon 



DEATH OF THE COCK. 91 

and placed the dead cock in it. When this was done, they 
harnessed themselves to the wagon. Then they said, "We 
will draw the cock to his grave." The hen walked behind, 
weeping, and they all set out to bury the cock. 

On the way they met a fox. The fox said, "What is the 
matter, hen?" "Oh!" said the hen, "the cock is dead and we 
are going to bury him." "I am sorry," said the fox. "May I 
go to the funeral?" As they went along they met a wolf, a 
bear, a hare, a lion, and many other animals. They were all 
sorry and asked to be allowed to go to the funeral. 

Suggestions. 

The animals mentioned; the largest; the smallest; the strongest; their 
homes; their food, etc. Different kinds of wagons. 

The conduct of the animals. Who was helpful in "Stardollars" ? In 
"Seven Little Goats" ? In "Red Riding Hood"? Do you think of any 
others that were helpful ? 

III. 
Preparation. 

The story tells us of the trouble the hen and the other 
animals had in crossing a river. Have children suggest ways 
of crossing the river. 

Narration. 

CROSSING THE RIVER. 

The six little mice went on with the wagon. The hen and 
her friends walked behind. They passed through a forest and 



98 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

across a meadow, and finally came to a river. There was no 
bridge over this river; but as the procession came to the river 
bank a straw, which lay there, wanted to be helpful and said, 
"I will be your bridge." Then he laid himself across the water. 

The little mice tried first to cross. They stepped upon the 
straw bridge and snap! it broke. All the mice fell into the 
water and were drowned. A coal then happened to come 
along. He said, "I am big enough; I will lay myself over the 
water." He had hardly touched the water when he sank to 
the bottom. 

The poor hen was very much frightened and did not know 
what to do. Just then a long stone, that lay near and had 
seen all that had happened, laid himself over the river. The 
hen took the wagon herself and drew it over safe to the other 
side. 

All the animals tried to go over, but there were so many 
of them that the stone broke and they fell into the river and 
were drowned. Then the hen was alone again. She dug a 
grave, laid the cock in it, and made a little mound over it. 
When she had clone this, the hen sat upon the grave and 
grieved over the death of the cock till she, too, died. 

Suggestions. 

In which stories have you heard of a forest ? Of meadows ? Of brooks? 
Of rivers ? 

Explain bridges, materials of, etc. 



BIRDIE AND LENA. 



BIRDIE AND LENA. 



Preparation. 

A story of a little child who was found by a hunter in 
an eagle's nest. Children tell what they know about the eagle 
In what story did we learn about the eagle? 

Narration. 

HOW THE HUNTER FOUND BIRDIE. 

Once upon a time a mother was walking through a woods 
with a little child in her arms. She became very tired and sat 
down under a tree to rest. She fell asleep as she sat there, and 
the baby slept in her lap. 

By and by an eagle that was flying far overhead saw the 
child in the mother's lap. He flew down, caught up the child 
in his strong claws, and carried it away to his nest in a great 
oak tree. 

A hunter saw the eagle flying towards the oak tree. He 
thought that he saw something strange in the eagle's claws. 



94 

He waited until the eagle had laid the child in his nest. Then 
the hunter fired his gun. The noise frightened the eagle 
away. 

Climbing the tree, the hunter found the little baby lying in 
the eagle's nest. He took the little one in his strong arms 
and carried it home with him. He had but one child — a little 
daughter whose name was Lena. 

When he brought the little one home he said, "Here is a 
little sister for you, Lena. We will call her Birdie because I 
found her in an eagle's nest." Lena was glad to see the baby 
girl, and kissed her. The two children played and ate and 
slept together. They grew to love each other so much that, if 
they were parted for even a little while, they felt lonely and 
sad. 

Suggestions . 

Talk about the hunter and hunting wild animals. 

II. 
Preparation. 

The cook in the hunter's home did not like Birdie. Re- 
call characters in preceding part of story. Talk about work of 
the cock and the idea — housekeeper. 



BIRDIE AND LENA. 95 

Narration. 

THE COOK. 

An old woman lived in the hunter's home. She was the 
cook. She was busy all day long doing the work and taking 
care of the children, for Lena's mother was dead. 

The hunter went out early in the morning. At night he 
came home, bringing what he had shot in the woods. Then 
he played with the children or told them wonderful stories. 

Lena and her father both loved Birdie dearly and were al- 
ways kind to her. But the old cook did not love her at all. 
She was angry when the hunter brought the little child home. 
She had more work to do caring for two children than for 
one ; and the children were often noisy in their play. All this 
made the old cook dislike Birdie. So she made up her mind 
to get rid of her. 

A great iron pot stood in the kitchen. One day Lena saw 
the old cook carrying pails of water from the spring near the 
house. She poured the water into the big pot and went for 
more. This she did again and again. 

Lena wondered why she was doing this. She asked, 
"Why are you carrying in so much water?" The cook looked 
around to see if anyone else were near. Then she whispered 
to Lena, "I will tell you, Lena, if you promise never, never to 



96 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

tell anyone." Lena promised. Then the old woman said, "I 
do not like Birdie. I am filling this big pot with water and 
to-morrow, when your father is gone, I will drown her in it." 

Suggestions. 

Talk of springs; cooking; value of good cooking, 

III. 
Preparation. 

Birdie is saved by Lena. Talk of Birdie's danger. Chil- 
dren imagine how she might be saved. 

Narration. 

HOW BIRDIE WAS SAVED, 

Lena felt very sad indeed when the old cook said, "I am 
going to drown Birdie." Oh, how sorry she was that she had 
made such a promise! All day long she thought about it and 
grew sadder and sadder. Birdie would ask, "What is the mat- 
ter, dear Lena?" But Lena would say, "I cannot tell you, 
Birdie." 

Night came and the children went to bed; but Lena could 
not sleep. At last she said to herself, "That was not a good 
promise. I will not keep it." So she woke Birdie and told 
her all about what the old cook had said and done. 



BIRDIE AND LENA. 97 

Then she said, "But I can save you, Birdie, if you will 
trust me and do just as I say/' "O, Lena," said Birdie, "I 
do trust you. I know you love me and I will do just as you 
say." "Then," said Lena, "let us get up and dress ourselves. 
We will slip quietly out of the house and hide in the forest be- 
fore the old cook is up." So the children dressed themselves. 
They went softly out of the house and ran far away into the 
forest. 

When the hunter had eaten his breakfast and left the house, 
the old cook went to the children's room to get Birdie. How 
astonished she was to find the bed empty and both the children 
gone. How frightened she felt when she thought of the 
hunter's anger when he should come home. "Oh," she cried, 
"what shall I say when the hunter comes home and finds that 
the children are gone?" 

Suggestions. 

Breaking a bad promise. 
Apprehensions of evil doers. 



IV. 



Preparation. 

The cook sends servants to find the two girls, but they 
are not successful. Children imagine where the servants will 
search for Lena and Birdie. 



98 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

Narration. 

THE SEARCH. 

The cook sent the servants to look for Birdie and Lena. 
They went into the woods looking everywhere, behind trees 
and among the bushes. Lena saw them coming towards the 
place where she and Birdie were hiding. "Birdie," she said, 
"will you do just as I say?" "Yes, Lena," said Birdie, "I will." 
"Then," said Lena, "we must change quickly so that the serv- 
ants will not find us. You must be a rosebush, Birdie, and I 
will be a red rose growing upon it." As she spoke they were 
changed. Birdie became a rosebush and Lena a sweet red rose 
growing upon it. 

The servants came and looked all around for the children; 
but, as they could not find them anywhere, they went back to 
the house. The old cook was at the window watching anx- 
iously for them. "Where are the children?" she cried. "We 
could not find them," answered the servants. "We thought 
once that we saw them, but when we reached the place they 
were nowhere to be seen. There was nothing there but a rose- 
bush with a rose upon it." 

"O you stupid things," cried the cook; "why did you not 
bring me the rose? Go back and get it." 



BIRDIE AND LENA. W 

V. 
Preparation. 

The servants try to find the rosebush and the rose. The 
children escape again. Children imagine how they escape. 

Narration. 

THE SERVANTS GO AGAIN TO THE FOREST. 

When the old cook said, "Go back to the forest and bring 
me the rose," the servants went back. As they came near the 
place where they had seen the rosebush and rose, Lena saw 
them coming. "We must change again, dear Birdie," she 
said. "You must be a church and I will be the steeple." 

When the servants came to the place the rosebush and the 
rose were gone. And there stood a tiny church with a tall 
steeple! The servants were astonished. They said to one 
another, "I did not see that church here before. Did you? 
Well, we can not find the rosebush and rose, so we may as 
well go back. My! but won't the old cook be cross?" 
L.ofC. 



100 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, 

VI. 
Preparation, 

The cook goes out to look for the children and is punished. 
Talk of cook's wicked plan and what her punishment may be. 
Explain fond, 

Narration. 

THE COOK PUNISHED. 

So the cook set out to look for the children herself and the 
servants went with her. By and by they came near the place 
where Birdie and Lena were. Lena saw them coming be- 
cause she was the steeple and could see far around her. "O 
Birdie," she cried, "here comes the old cook. We must change 
again. You must be a pond, dear Birdie, and I will be a duck 
swimming upon the pond." 

It was no sooner said than done; and when the old woman 
and the servants came, the church and the steeple had disap- 
peared. And there, among the trees, they saw a little pond 
with a snow-white duck swimming upon it. "There they are," 
cried the wicked old woman; "I am going to drink all that 



BIRDIE AND LENA. 101 

water up." And so saying she stooped down to drink up all 
the water; but she lost her balance and, falling head-first into 
the pond, was drowned. 

Birdie and Lena took back their own shapes again. You 
may be sure the servants were astonished when they heard the 
whole story. As for the old cook, they said, "She was a wicked 
woman; she is well punished." 

The children went back to the house and, when the hunter 
came home, told him all about the old woman's wicked plan 
and how Birdie was saved. He, too, said, "She was a wicked 
woman. She is well punished." And now that the old cook 
was gone, Birdie and her kind friends lived happily together 
all the rest of their lives. 

Suggestions. 

Punishment. Recall punishment in previous stories. 



~*4H 




102 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

THE WOLF AND THE FOX. 

I. 

Preparation. 

A wolf made a fox get his food for him. He made him 
take food from farmers' yards and houses. 

What kind of food would a wolf find in a farmer's yard? 

Narration. 

AT THE FARMYARD. 

Once upon a time a wolf caught a fox and kept him as a 
servant. Whatever the wolf said, the fox must do. One day 
they were going through a forest and the wolf said to the fox, 
"Get me some food or I will eat you." The fox said, "I know 
a farmyard where there are two young lambs which, if you 
wish, I will fetch for you?" This pleased the wolf very much. 
They went to the farmyard and the fox, slipping slyly into the 
yard, stole a fine young lamb and brought it to the wolf. 

When he had done this he ran away, leaving the wolf alone 
to enjoy his dinner. The wolf quickly devoured the lamb, but 



THE WOLF AND THE FOX. 103 

did not feel satisfied. He wanted more, and went to get the 
other lamb from the yard. But he was so clumsy and made 
so much noise that the mother sheep heard him. She cried 
out, "Baa! baa!" This wakened the farmers and they came 
running to help her. [They found the wolf and, before the thief 
could get over the fence, they beat him severely. He ran 
limping to the fox and said, "You have led me into a fine 
place! When I went to get the other lamb the farmers came 
out and beat me terribly. ,, 

"That is because you are such a glutton," said the fox. 
"You always want too much." 

Suggestions. 

Compare wolf and fox, their homes, food, etc. 

Explain glutton . 

Describe the conduct of the wolf. Did he deserve punishment ? 

II. 

Preparation. 

The wolf and the fox visit a farm house to get some pan- 
cakes. 

Narration, 

AT THE FARM HOUSE. 

The next day the wolf and the fox again went into the 
forest and the greedy wolf said to the fox, "Get me something 



104 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

to eat right quick or I will eat you!" The fox said he knew 
of a farm house near by where the cook was going to make 
some pancakes that very day. So they turned and went there. 

When they got there the sly fox crept up very quietly and 
entered the house. He sneaked around till he found where the 
dish was that held the pancakes. He then slyly drew out six 
of the cakes and took them to the wolf, saying, "Here is some- 
thing for you to eat," and ran away as before. 

The wolf ate them and, in a minute or two, wishing to 
have more, he went into the house and tried to get some out 
of the dish. But he was so clumsy that he knocked the dish 
down. It fell with a loud crash and was broken in pieces. The 
noise alarmed the cook who came running out. When she 
saw the wolf she called the family. The farmer came and 
beat him with such good will that he ran home to the fox 
howling, and with two lame legs. 

"What a fine place you have drawn me into now!" he 
cried. "The farmers have caught me again and dressed my 
skin till my bones cracked." "Why, then, are you such a 
glutton?" asked the fox. 

III. 
Preparation. 

On the third day they visited a farmer's cellar. 
Explain cellar. Food found there. 



THE WOLF AND THE FOX. 105 

Narration. 

IN THE CELLAR. 

They went out again the third day, the wolf limping along 
very painfully. When they were some distance from home the 
wolf said to the fox, "Get me something to eat quick, or I 
will eat you." 

The fox said he knew a man who had just killed a pig 
and salted it down in a cask in his cellar. The wolf replied, "I 
will go with you if you promise to help me if we get into trou- 
ble." "Of course I will help you," caid the fox, and showed 
him how to get into the cellar. 

Once in, there was plenty of meat. The wolf was delighted 
at the sight and set to work at once. The fox, too, liked meat; 
but he kept looking around while eating and running now and 
then to the hole through which they came, to see if his body 
would still slip through easily. Presently the wolf asked, 
"Why are you running about so?" "I want to see if any one 
is coming," replied the cunning fox. "Mind you don't eat too 
much!" 

The wolf said he would not leave till all the meat was eaten. 

Meanwhile the farmer, who had heard the noise made by 
the pair in the cellar, walked in. The fox, as soon as he saw 
him, made a spring and was out through the hole in a jiffy. 

The wolf tried to follow, but he had eaten so much that his 



106 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

body was too big for the hole and he stuck fast. Then came 
the farmer with a stout cudgel and beat him to death. 

The fox ran away into the forest, very glad to be rid of his 
greedy master. 

Suggestions. 

Farms, farmers. Where does our food come from ? Preserving meat. 
Why did the fox serve the wolf ? Was either one honest ? Who was 
made to do wrong ? 




THE STREET MUSICIANS. 107 



THE STREET MUSICIANS. 

I. 

Preparation. 

Our story to-day tells of four animals that formed a plan to 
go to a city called Bremen and become street musicians. But 
darkness overtook them on the way and they had to spend the 
night in a forest. What animals might become musicians? 
What music can each one make? Tell about street musicians 
you have seen. What kind of instruments did they play on? 

Narration. 

HOW THE MUSICIANS CAME TOGETHER. 

A man once had a donkey that, for many years, had carried 
heavy sacks of grain to the mill for him. At last the donkey 
grew old. He became weak and could no longer carry heavy 
loads. 

One day, as he was eating hay in his stall, he heard his 
master say, "That old donkey is good for nothing. I am not 
going to feed him any longer. When he dies I will have his 
tough old hide for a cover to my wagon." 

At this the poor donkey felt very sad. He said to himself: 



108 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

"I have worked hard for my master all these years and now 
the hard-hearted man cares nothing for me and is going to 
turn me out and let me die of starvation. But he is mistaken 
about that. I will not stay here to die. I will help myself. 
I have always had a beautiful, strong voice. It is fine and 
good yet. I will go to the great city, Bremen, and be a street 
musician. The people will gladly pay to hear such fine music 
as I can make; and with the money I can buy food for myself 
in my old age." 

So the old donkey set out on the road to Bremen. As 
he walked along he saw a dog lying by the roadside. The dog 
was panting and seemed very tired. The donkey stopped and 
looked at him. "What is the matter with you?" he asked. 
"You look as if you are in trouble." 

"Indeed, I am in trouble," said the dog. "I am too old 
and weak to go hunting with my master and I heard him 
say this morning that he intends to kill me. No wonder I am 
sad." The donkey replied: "I have just left my master because 
he was going to turn me out to starve, and I am going to 
Bremen to be a street musician and earn my living. You may 
go, too. So come along; we will go together." "That I will," 
said the dog. So the two went on side by side toward the city. 

By and by they came to a cat sitting on a fence by the 
roadside. She looked as though she had not a friend in all 
the wide world. The two friends stopped to speak to her. 



THE STREET MUSICIANS. 109 

"What is the matter with you, old whiskers?" said the donkey. 
"You look as dismal as three days of rainy weather." 

"No wonder," answered the cat. "I am now too old to 
catch mice; my teeth are gone and my claws are dull; and my 
heartless master says he is going to drown me in the pond." 
"Cheer up," said the donkey. "We two are going to be mu- 
sicians. You can sing tenor to our bass. You are just the 
one we want. Come with us to Bremen." The cat thanked 
the donkey for the kind invitation and said she was delighted 
with the plan and would go gladly. So the three went on 
towards Bremen. 

As they were passing by a farm they saw a cock perched 
upon a barn door. He was crowing as loud as he could. The 
donkey called out, "What ails you, old red comb? You are 
crowing as if you meant to split your throat." "I am crowing 
while I can," said the cock; "to-morrow the cook is going to 
put me into the soup pot." And he went on crowing louder 
than ever. "I can tell you something better than that," said 
the donkey. "We are all going to be musicians. You have a 
fine voice, so come with us." "Thank you," said the cock. 
"I will gladly go. I have no taste for soup." He flew down, 
and the four friends went on merrily together. 

Model Treatment. 

Tell what the donkey had done all his life. Why did his master want 



110 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

to get rid of him? Give the conversation between the donkey and the dog; 
the donkey and each of the other animals. 

To what city were the animals going ? Bremen is a large city in Ger- 
many, across the ocean. Do you know any one that has come from Ger- 
many ? Do you live in a city ? In what large city have you been ? Which is 
the more useful, the donkey or the dog ? Tell what each does for us. Tell 
about the different kinds of dogs that you know. What do shepherd dogs 
do ? Newfoundland dogs? 

Why did the masters wish to be rid of these animals ? How should ani- 
mals be treated in their old age ? What do we say of those that try to sup- 
port themselves ? 



II. 

Preparation. 

I will now tell you how the four musicians passed the night 
in a forest on the way to Bremen, and what happened to them 
there. Do you remember any one in the stories we have heard 
that passed the night in a forest? Tell-how it happened? Why 
does one not like to stay in a forest all night? What dangers 
are there in a forest? 

Narration. 

IN THE FOREST. 

The four companions could not reach Bremen in one day, 
so must pass the night on the road. Night came on them as 
they were passing through a deep forest. They could no 
longer see the way, and so they stopped. The donkey leaned 
up against a great tree. The dog lay on the ground beneath, 



THE STREET MUSICIANS. Ill 

the cat curled herself up on a branch, and the cock flew up to 
the very top. 

After a time the cock said, "I see a light. It seems to 
come from the window of a house." "Oh," said the donkey, 
"let us go to it; perhaps some kind people live in the house. 
They may give us something to eat. I am hungry. I would 
like a mouthful of hay." "I would be thankful for even a 
couple of bones," said the dog. The cat and the cock, too, 
were hungry. So the four animals went on toward the light. 

As they came nearer the light grew larger and clearer. 
Finally they came to a house, the home of a band of robbers. 
The donkey, being the largest, went to the window and looked 
in. "What do you see?" said the cock. 

"Oh! I see a table with all kinds of good things to eat on 
it. Around it there seems to be a band of robbers, eating and 
drinking and having a merry time," said the donkey. 

"There must be something there for us," said the cock. 
"Yes, indeed!" said the donkey. "Some of that food must 
be for us." The four animals then agreed upon a plan to 
frighten the robbers away from the house so that they might 
go in and eat. The donkey put his fore feet on the window 
sill. The dog jumped up on the donkey's back. The cat 
sprang up on the dog's back, and the cock flew up on top of 
the cat. 

When they were all ready, each one made his music as loud 



112 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

as he could. The donkey brayed, the dog barked, the cat 
mewed, and the cock crowed. The noise they made was so 
loud and strong that the window rattled and the whole house 
shook. The robbers heard the noise outside but could not 
tell what it was. They were all terribly frightened. One 
thought it was the police. Another cried, "It is the soldiers!" 
And so hallowing, one this, the other that, they ran pell 
mell out of the house and hid in the woods. Then the four 
friends went in and sat at the robbers' table and ate and drank 
until they were satisfied. Then they put out the light and each 
one found a comfortable place in which to sleep. The donkey 
stretched himself out on some straw in the yard. The dog lay 
behind the door. The cat lay down by the hearth, and the 
cock flew up on the rafter. They were so tired after their 
long journey that they were soon fast asleep, and so all was 
quiet in the little house in the woods. 

Model Treatment. 

Where did the animals plan to spend the night ? Tell how each one 
made ready for sleep. Who saw the light ? Why did they go toward it ? 
Who peeped in ? What did he see ? Tell how the animals frightened the 
robbers away. 

In what stories have you heard of a cock ? Tell how the cat differs from 
the dog. Of what use are cats ? How do they catch mice? Did you ever 
see a cat sharpen her claws ? What animals are like cats? 

Why did the robbers live in the forest ? 

Why were they so easily frightened ? 

Why did they think of police and soldiers ? 



THE STREET MUSICIANS, 313 



III. 
Preparation. 

We shall now learn that the robbers came back while the 
four musicians were asleep in the house, and what happened. 
Tell where each animal went to sleep. What do you think 
they did when the robbers came back? Let us see, 

N arration. 
THE ROBBERS RETURN. 

The robbers did not go very far away. They hid in the 
woods and watched to see what went on in the house. Along 
about midnight one of the robbers said: "See, the light is 
out. Perhaps the police have gone away." "Yes," said all 
the other robbers, as they looked, "the light is out." 

The captain of the robbers then sent one of the band to see 
if all was safe. He stole softly through the woods and crept 
into the house. When once in he saw something shining in 
the fireplace. It was the cat's eyes, but he thought it was 
two coals of fire. So he took the candle from the table and 
stooped to light it at the coals. The cat at once sprang at him 
and scratched his face with her claws. The robber, badly 
scared, ran out of the house. As he ran, the dog awoke and 
bit him in the leg. The donkey kicked him, and the cock 



1U THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

cried out, "Cock — a — doodle — do." Still worse frightened, he 
ran back to where the others were hiding. 

"Oh!" he said, "I wouldn't go back there for the world! 
There was a terrible old woman sitting by the fireplace. She 
scratched me with her long finger nails. A man lay behind 
the door: he cut me in the leg with his long knife. A giant, 
who was lying in the yard, struck me with his great club. 
Then some one cried out, 'Bring a rope and hang the thief/ 
So I ran back as fast as I could." 

When the other robbers heard this they all said, "No, it is 
not safe to go back there;" and they went away to another part 
of the country. The four musicians liked the little house in the 
woods so much that they remained there all the rest of their 
days in joy and comfort. 

Model Treatment. 

1. Tell where the robbers went when they ran away. Tell what 
the one said who saw that the light was out. What did the captain then 
say? What did the cat do to the robber? The dog? The donkey? The 
cock? Tell what report he made to his brother robbers. What did they 
then do? 

2. Why did the robber go to the fireplace? What is a candle? What 
do we use in place of candles? A long time ago people used candles. Of 
what were they made? What is burned in lamps? Where do we get it? 
Where do we get gas? Can cats see better than dogs or donkeys or 
chickens? Where do cats sleep? Dogs? Donkeys? Cocks? 

Why do chickens sleep up so high? 
Why are robbers afraid of police? 



THE STREET MUSICIANS. 



115 



What are policemen f 

What is their duty? Who pays policemen? In what other stories 
did we hear of a fireplace? (In "The Cock and the Hen.") Tell about it. 

Detail of Form Work. 



i 

< 

Ah 


MAKING. 


DRAWING. 


CUTTING. 


DRAMATIZATION. 


I. 


The animals 
modeled in 
clay. 


The donkey, the 
dog, and the cat 
talking to the 
cock. 


The four animals 
on their jour- 
ney. 


The meeting of the 
four animals. 


II. 


The robbers' 
house (of 
paper). 


The four animals 
frightening the 
robbers. 


The robbers hid- 
den in the 
wood. 


The four animals 
in the forest and 
frightening the 
robbers. 


III. 


Candle and 
Standard. 
(See Worst, 
Ex. 86). 


The robbers run- 
ning away. 


Different kinds 
of lights and 
receptacles for 
lights. 


The robber, return- 
ing to the house 
and frightened 
away by the ani- 
mals. 




116 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

THE STRAW, THE COAL, AND THE BEAN. 

I. 

Preparation. 

The story of a straw, a coal, and a bean. How they met, 
how they started on a journey, and what happened to them. 
Children imagine how they could meet. 

Narration. 

THE MEETING. 

In a little house in a village there once lived an old woman. 
One day this old woman went to her garden and picked some 
beans for her dinner. She had a fire on the hearth, but to make 
it burn brighter she threw on a handful of straw. 

One of the straws slipped out of her fingers and lay on the 
floor. As she threw the beans into the pot to boil, a bean fell 
on the floor and lay quite near the straw. Suddenly a red-hot 
coal bounced out of the fire and fell close to the straw and the 
bean. 

They both started away, calling out, "Friend, do not come 
near us until you are cooler. What brings you out here?" 
"Oh!" said the coal, "the heat made me so strong that I was 
able to bounce from the fire. And a lucky thing it was for 



THE STRAW, THE COAL, AND THE BEAN. 117 

me, too, for if I had stayed there I would surely have been 
burned to ashes." 

Then the bean said, "I also' had a narrow escape. If the 
old woman had put me into the pot with the others, I would 
certainly have been boiled to death." "It was a good thing 
for me," said the straw, "that I slipped through the old wom- 
an's fingers, or I would have been burned with the others." 
And so the three talked as they lay on the hearthstone to- 
gether. 

Suggestions. 

Recall fireplace in other stories. Fire. 
Talk of straw, its uses, how obtained, etc. 

II. 
Preparation. 

The straw, the coal and the bean plan to go on a journey. 
Their troubles. Children give reasons for going. Imagine 
what their troubles may be. 

Explain tailor. 

Narration. 

THE JOUENEY. 

After the straw, the coal and the bean had talked together 
awhile, the coal said, "Well, what shall we do now?" "'I 
think," said the bean, "that we had better leave this place as 



118 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

quickly as possible. If the old woman sees us she will put me 
into the pot." "Yes," said the straw, "that is a good idea. Let 
us go quickly and travel to some more friendly country." So 
the three set off together. 

By and by they came to a little stream over which there 
was no bridge. They were puzzled to know how to get across. 
Finally the straw said, "I will place myself across the stream 
and you can walk over me as if I were a bridge." So the straw 
laid himself from one bank to the other and the coal started to 
trip gaily across. But when he reached the middle he heard 
the waters rushing under him. He became frightened and 
stood still. It was a great pity that he did this, for, as he was 
quite hot, the straw became scorched. It broke in two, fell 
into the water, and floated away. The coal fell in also and, 
with a hiss, sank to the bottom of the stream. 

The bean, who had remained upon the bank, saw all that 
had happened to her two friends. It seemed so funny to her 
that she laughed and laughed until she burst her skin. She 
was now as badly off as the others, and felt very sad indeed. 

Just then a tailor came along. He also was traveling and, 
being tired, sat down on the bank to rest. He saw what 
trouble the poor bean was in. Being a kind-hearted man, he 
took a needle and thread out of his pocket and sewed up the 
bean's torn skin. And from that day to this every bean has a 



THE STRAW, THE COAL, AND THE BEAN. 119 

scar on its back, showing where the kind-hearted tailor sewed 
its ancestor's torn skin. 

Suggestions. 

Bean; uses; how prepared for food; appearance; where obtained. 
Recall similar incident in "Death of the Cock." 

Kindness and unkindness of friends or companions as shown in this 
story. Recall instances of the same traits in other stories. ("The Death 
of the Cock"; "Birdie and Lena)." 

Kindness and unkindness as shown to strangers in this story. Recall 
examples in "The Cock and the Hen/' "The Death of the Cock," 'The 
Street Musicians." 




AflWU. 



T 



120 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 



CINDERELLA. 
I. 

Preparation. 

The story of a rich girl who had to serve her sisters; of 
her sisters' unkindness; of kind friends who helped her, and of 
how she was happy at last. 

Explain serve and servant. Talk of servants' work. 

Narration. 

HOW CINDERELLA GOT HER NAME. 

Once upon a time there was a girl whose father and mother 
were rich. They lived in a beautiful house and had everything 
that they could want. They loved each other very much and 
lived happily together. 

But one day the mother became very sick and, as she grew 
worse and worse, she knew that she was going to die. She 
called her daughter to her and said: "My child, I am going 
to leave you. When I am gone, remember that I have tried 
to teach you to be good and kind and loving." 

The daughter promised that she would never forget what 
her dear mother had taught her. They kissed each other lov- 
ingly, and not long after the mother died. 



CINDERELLA. 121 

After a while the father brought a new wife home. He 
thought that this lady would be a kind mother to his daughter* 

But he was mistaken. The new wife was not at all kind. 
She was proud and bad-tempered. And she had two young 
lady daughters who were even worse than their mother. 

One day, not long after the new mother and sisters had 
come to the little girl's home, they were all sitting together in 
the parlor. 

One of the sisters said: "Mother, must we have her sit- 
ting with us all the time? We don't want her here. Send her 
into the kitchen and let her do the work." And the mother 
said to the little girl, "Yes, go into the kitchen and work. We 
do not want you here. Go quickly." 

So the daughter of the house went into the kitchen and 
began to work. The sisters came out after a while and looked 
at her as she worked. One of them said, "That dress is alto- 
gether too pretty for you ; give it to me." The other sister said, 
"Take off those pretty shoes and give them to me." She gave 
her pretty shoes and dress to her sisters, who threw a ragged 
old dress and wooden shoes to her saying, "Here, take these; 
they are good enough for you." 

Then they said to her, "Your bedroom is too nice for a 
girl who works in the kitchen. We want that room for our- 
selves; you may sleep here." As she had nowhere else to sleep, 
the poor girl slept in the kitchen. 



122 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

It was often cold there at night after the fire had gone out. 
So she would creep into the great fireplace and curl herself up 
into the warm ashes and sleep. 

Her sisters found this out. But, instead of being sorry for 
her, they laughed at her and called her Cinderella, the ash-girl. 



Suggestions. 



Wooden shoes. 
Unkindness in the family. 



II. 
Preparation. 

Cinderella's father goes to a fair and promises to bring each 
one a present. What will each ask for? 
Explain fair. Pearl necklace. 

Narration. 

THE FAIR. 

There was a large town near Cinderella's home. Every year 
there was a fair in this town. The people who had things to 
sell brought them to the fair. 

If you were to walk through the streets of this town you 
would see booths gaily trimmed with flags and flowers and 
the branches of trees. 



CINDERELLA. 123 

There were many pretty things for sale in these booths. 
There were silks and satins. There were rings and bracelets 
and necklaces; and there were toys for boys and girls. 

People walked about looking at the beautiful things in the 
booths. There was music and dancing, and everybody was 
gay and happy. 

One morning Cinderella's father said, "I am going to the 
fair. I will buy each of you girls a present, so tell me what you 
want." The oldest one said, "O papa, bring me a pretty silk 
dress. I need a new party dress." "Oh!" cried the second 
sister, "I must have a pearl necklace. Do bring me a beauti- 
ful pearl necklace." "Very well," said the father, "you shall 
have what you want." Then he turned to Cinderella and 
asked, "And what shall I bring you, my daughter?" She re- 
plied, "I do not want anything from the fair, father. But 
please bring me the first branch that touches your hat as you 
ride home through the forest." 

The two sisters laughed and said: "What a goose you are, 
Cinderella. Why don't you ask for something nice?" Her 
father said, "Yes, daughter, I will bring you anything you 
wish from the fair." But Cinderella said, "I do not want any- 
thing, father, but the first branch that touches your hat as you 
ride home through the forest." So the father mounted his 
horse and rode off to the fair. 



124 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

By and by he came back; and sure enough he brought the 
silk dress and the pearl necklace to the sisters, and to Cin- 
derella he gave the branch she had asked for. 

She took the branch and planted it on her mother's grave. 
Every day she watered it and at last the branch grew to be a 
fine tree. Its roots reached down into the ground. Its 
branches spread out on every side. The birds came and built 
their nests in it. How glad Cinderella was to see her tree 
growing so big and strong! When she felt sad and lonely, 
she went out to her dear tree and it comforted her. The birds, 
too, were her friends. She talked to them, and brought them 
crumbs to eat, and they sang their sweetest songs for her. 



Talk of planting trees. 
Needs of such plants. 
Treatment of birds. 



Suggestions. 



III. 



Preparation. 

Cinderella's sisters go to a ball. Explain king, queen, prince. 
Children give their idea of a ball. Will Cinderella go? 

Narration. 

THE BALL. 

The king of the country in which Cinderella lived had a 
son. When this son was twenty-one years old the king said 



CINDERELLA. 125 

to the queen, "Let us give a grand ball for our son. We will 
invite all the beautiful young ladies of the land so that our 
son can choose a wife." 

The king and queen sent out invitations to the ball and 
Cinderella's father and mother were invited to come and bring 
their daughters. The ball was to last three nights, and every- 
one expected to have a very fine time, indeed. 

How glad Cinderella's sisters were when the invitations 
came. They said, "We must get out our most beautiful dresses 
and our loveliest ornaments; and you, Cinderella, must help 
us." 

And so poor little Cinderella had to run to and fro helping 
her proud sisters to get ready for the ball. 

At last the day of the ball came. Oh, how busy Cinderella 
was! She had to brush and comb her sisters' hair. She had 
to sew bows on their slippers. She had to help them dress. 

"O sisters," she said at last, "I wish I could go to the 
ball, too. I would like to see the king and queen, and the 
handsome young prince." But her sisters said, "Nonsense! 
Your dress is too ragged and your shoes are too clumsy. You 
cannot go." 

So Cinderella went to the mother and asked her if she 
might go to the ball. The mother took a peck of seeds and 
flung them out into the backyard where they fell among the 



126 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

ashes. "Now, Cinderella," she said, "if you pick up all of 
those seeds in an hour, you may go to the ball." Cinderella 
stood in the yard and began to call, in her soft, sweet voice: 
"Come, little pigeons and turtle doves. If you don't help me, 
what shall I do?" 

Down flew the pigeons and the turtle doves and all the 
birds who knew and loved Cinderella. Down they came and 
set to work to help her. Pick! pick! pick! with their sharp 
little bills, and soon all the seeds were out of the ashes and 
back in the peck measure again. 

Then Cinderella ran to her mother. "See, mother," she 
said, "here are the seeds. Now may I go to the ball?" But 
the mother said, "No, you cannot go;" and turning her back 
on the poor girl she and her daughters went to the ball. 

Suggestions. 

Talk about pigeons and doves. 

Promise-breaking. Recall instances of, in previous stories. 

IV. 

Preparation. 

Talk of Cinderella's wish to go to the ball. Difficulties in 
the way. Children imagine how she might be able to go. 



CINDERELLA. 127 

Narration. 

HOW CINDERELLA WENT TO THE BALL. 

After her mother and sisters had gone to the ball, Cinder- 
ella felt very lonely and sad. She sat in the kitchen for a 
while. Then she said to herself, "I will go out to my dear 
tree; perhaps it will help me." 

How pretty and strong the tree looked in the moonlight. 
Cinderella thought, "Surely, my dear tree will help me." Then 
she said aloud, "Rustle and shake yourself, dear tree. Throw 
gold and silver down on me." And what do you think hap- 
pened? Why, the tree shook its branches and down dropped 
such lovely things, — a beautiful, snow-white dress, all trimmed 
with gold and silver; and the prettiest little slippers in the 
world. 

Oh, how glad Cinderella was! You may be sure she dressed 
herself quickly and went to the ball. And when she got there 
she was the prettiest and sweetest looking girl in all that great 
company. The prince danced with her. The king and queen 
spoke kindly to her. They also said to one another, "She is a 
lovely maiden, so sweet and gentle." 

Her mother and sisters did not know her at all. They 
never thought that the happy looking girl in the beautiful ball 
dress was their Cinderella. 



128 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

When it grew late, Cinderella stole quietly out of the ball- 
room and ran home. She took off her pretty things and took 
them back to the tree. Then she lay down in her bed in the 
ashes and was soon fast asleep. 

When her sisters and their mother came home they woke 
her. "O Cinderella !" they said, "we had a delightful time. 
And there was the most beautiful girl there ! She wore a dress 
all trimmed with gold and silver. And the prince danced with 
her. We wondered who she could be." Cinderella laughed 
softly to herself, but she said never a word. 

The second night of the ball came. Cinderella's sisters had 
kept her running back and forth waiting upon them; but at 
last they were dressed. 

As soon as they and their mother had gone, Cinderella ran 
out to her kind friend, the tree. Again she called out, "Rustle 
and shake yourself, dear tree. Throw gold and silver down 
on me." And down fell a lovely ball dress, prettier even than 
the one she wore the night before. When Cinderella reached 
the ball-room, the prince was waiting for her. The king and 
queen welcomed her; and everyone seemed glad to see this 
sweet-faced, happy maiden. 

How happy Cinderella was! She forgot all about her 
ragged dress, her clumsy wooden shoes, and her bed in the 
ashes. She was the happiest of all in that great ball-room. 

When it grew late, she again stole quietly away and ran 



CINDERELLA. 129 

home. She took off her pretty things and laid them down 
under the tree, and they were quickly gone. She was asleep 
when the sisters came home; but they woke her to help them 
undress and to listen to all their talk about the ball. 

The last night of the ball came. How anxious the sisters 
were to look as fine as possible! How hard they made Cinder- 
ella work getting them ready! How cross they were because 
their dresses were not handsome enough, and how gentle and 
kind dear Cinderella was to them! 

At last, they were gone, and Cinderella hurried out to her 
tree. Again she called out in her sweet voice, "Rustle and 
shake yourself, dear tree. Throw gold and silver down on 
me." I wish you could have seen the lovely things that the 
tree threw down. Such a beautiful dress! Such dear little 
slippers! And I wish you could have seen Cinderella when she 
was dressed in all those pretty things. 

The prince was waiting for her. He took her by the hand 
and lead her to his father and mother. "See, dear father and 
mother," he said, "this is the sweetest maiden in all the world. 
This is the one I choose to be my wife." 

And so Cinderella and the prince were married. Cinderella 
lived in the palace the rest of her life, and never, never again 
slept in the ashes. 

Suggestions. 

Gold and silver. Appearance. Uses of. Source. Recall mention in 
other stories. 

Patience and sweetness under trial. 



130 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

THE WONDERFUL TRAVELER. 

I. 

Preparation. 

I am now going to tell you of a wonderful traveler that had 
the power of giving to each one whatever he wished. I will tell 
you how night overtook him on a journey and how he was 
refused a place to sleep by a proud man who lived in a mansion, 
but was made welcome and given a bed and food by a kind, 
generous man who lived in a little hut near the mansion. You 
will hear of three wishes granted and what each one wished for. 

Do you remember anyone overtaken by darkness while on 
a journey in our stories? Yes. Star Dollar Girl. The Girl 
in "Mother Frost." The Cock and the Hen. The Street Mu- 
sicians. Tell how each one passed the night. Where have you 
seen a traveler? Our story happened long ago, before there 
were railroads and before there were many inns. Explain 
opposite. 

Narration, 

THE TRAVELER. 

A long time ago there was a wonderful traveler passing 
through a country. He was tired, footsore, and hungry. It 



THE WONDERFUL TRAVELER. 13i 

happened that night overtook him when he was a long way 
from an inn. He did not know what he should do. 

Finally, as he trudged along, he came to two houses stand- 
ing opposite each other. One was large and beautiful, the 
other was small and ugly. The large house belonged to a 
proud, selfish man; the other to a modest, generous man. 

The traveler thought, "Now, I would not be a burden to 
the man who lives in the large house because he has so much 
room. I will knock at his door." As he knocked the owner 
raised a window, looked out, and asked of the stranger what 
he wanted. The poor traveler answered, "I ask only a place to 
sleep over night." The proud man looked the stranger over 
from head to foot. And because his clothes were poor and 
soiled with dust, and because he did not look like one who 
had money to pay for his lodging, the owner shook his head 
and said, "I cannot take you in, for my house is full. If I 
received into my house everyone that came along, I should 
soon have to go begging myself. Seek elsewhere for your 
night's lodging." At that he closed the window with a bang, 
and left the poor traveler standing without in the darkness. 

The weary traveler then went to the cottage and knocked 
gently at the door. Scarcely had he knocked when the gener- 
ous man unlocked his door and cheerfully called out, "Come 
in, stranger, and pass the night with me. It is now quite dark. 
You can go on your journey in the morning." 



132 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

This welcome pleased the traveler and he went in. The 
good man's wife took him by the hand. "We have not much," 
she said, "but what we have you are welcome to." She then 
put some potatoes on the fire to bake. While they were cook- 
ing she milked the goats so that there might be a little milk for 
the evening meal. 

Sug-g-estions. 

1. Tell of the two houses that the wonderful traveler came to on 
his journey. To whom did the houses belong? Why did the traveler 
knock at the door of the mansion? Who answered the knock? What 
was said? Why did the proud man refuse the traveler a night's lodging? 
Tell the words he used. Where, then, did the traveler turn? How was 
he received at the cottage? Tell what was said. What did the wife say 
and do? 

Reproduction. 

2. What animal furnishes us milk? 

Where are cows kept? Who brings us milk? 

3. Do you like it that the traveler was refused a night's lodging at 
the mansion? What should the owner have said to him? Was the proud 
man kind? Was he friendly? Do we always welcome strangers? Would 
we take strangers into our homes? 

4. What can you say of the poor man and his wife? What shall 
we say of them? Were they generous, kind, hospitable? (They gave the 
stranger welcome and the best they had.) 

5. Why did the proud man look at the traveler's clothes? Who else 
refused to keep lodgers over night because he thought at first they could 
not pay? (Landlord in 'The Cock and The Hen.") 

II. 
Preparation. 

We shall now learn how the stranger passed the night, 



THE WONDERFUL TRAVELER. 133 

and of three wishes he granted to the good old man and his 
wife. What do you suppose the good people asked for? 

Narration. 

THE KIND MAN GRANTS WISHES. 

When the table was spread, they all sat down and ate. The 
plain food tasted good to them because they were all happy. 
After they had eaten, and bedtime had come, the good woman 
said to her husband, "Let us make for ourselves a bed of straw 
on the floor and give our bed to the traveler so that he may 
rest well. He has been traveling the whole day and must be 
very weary." "With all my heart," said her husband; "I will 
offer our bed to him." Then he went to the stranger and said 
to him, "We want you to sleep in our bed to-night. You are 
tired and you can rest better there." 

At first the stranger would not take the bed from the old 
people. But they would not take no for an answer, so finally 
he consented and lay down for the night in the comfortable 
bed. The two old people made a bed of straw on the floor. 
Early the next morning they were up. They cooked their 
guest a breakfast of the best they had. 

As the sun shone through the window the traveler arose, 
ate his simple meal with the good man and his wife, and was 
about to depart. As he stood in the door, ready to go, he 
turned to them and said, "Because you are so good and hos- 



134 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

pitable, you may make three wishes and I will fulfill them." 

The old people were surprised and at first did not know 
what to say. Then they wished as the first wish that they 
might always be contented. For the second, that they might 
always have health and their daily bread. For their third wish 
they did not know what to wish. But the wonderful traveler 
looked at their poor little house and said, "Would you not 
like to have a new house as your last wish?" "Oh, yes!" they 
cried. "A new house would please us best of anything." The 
wonderful traveler then gave them their wish and changed 
their old house into a new, large and beautiful one. When he 
had done this, he bade them good-bye and departed. 

Suggestions. 

1. Why did the food taste good? What offer did the good man 
and wife make the traveler? Where did they sleep? What did the won- 
derful traveler offer to the good people? What was their first wish? 
Their second? Their third? Reproduction. 

2. Tell in what ways the good man and wife were kind, generous, 
and hospitable. What pleases you in the treatment of the traveler? Do 
you like the three wishes? What might they have wished for? What is 
it to be contented? Do you know any who are never contented? Who 
was not contented in "Mother Frost"? In "The Wolf and the Fox"? 
In "Cinderella"? 

III. 

Preparation. 

Let us hear now how surprised the man who lived in the 
mansion was the next morning when he saw the fine new 



THE WONDERFUL TRAVELER. 135 

house across the way, and how he found out about the three 
wishes. Also how he overtook the wonderful traveler and 
obtained the promise of three wishes for himself. 

Narration. 

THE PROUD MAN OVERTAKES THE TRAVELER. 

When the proud man arose and looked out of his window, 
imagine his surprise to see a beautiful new house, with red- 
tiled roof and bright windows, where the ugly little hut had 
stood the night before. He called his wife and said, "Just 
see there! How could it have happened? Yesterday evening 
the ugly little hut stood there. Now there is a beautiful new 
house. Run over there quickly and learn how it happened." 

The wife ran over to the new house and inquired of the 
good people how it came there. The generous man told her of 
the wonderful traveler who had sought a night's lodging and 
who, at his departure the next morning, had granted them 
three wishes, — contentedness, health and daily bread, and a 
fine new, red-tiled house. 

When the proud man's wife heard this, she hastened back 
and told her husband all that had happened. The man said, 
"What a fool I am! Had I only known! That man knocked 
at our door last night, but I sent him away." "Then," said his 
wife, "hurry, get on your horse! You can overtake him and 
maybe he will grant you three wishes." 



136 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

So the proud man jumped on his horse and rode after the 
traveler. He soon overtook him and said, "I hope you will 
forgive me for not letting you in last night. I went to find the 
door key and when I returned with it you had gone. When 
you come this way again, you must stop with me." "Yes," 
said the traveler, "when I come this way again I will stop at 
your house." 

Then the proud man asked, "May I not also have three 
wishes fulfilled like my neighbor?" "Yes," said the traveler, 
"you may; but it would be better for you not to wish for any- 
thing." The proud man replied, "I would certainly seek out 
something that would make me happy if I only knew that it 
would be given me." "Very well," said the traveler, "go home 
and your three wishes shall be fulfilled." 

Suggestions. 

1. What did the inhospitable man see over the way the next morn- 
ing? Describe the house. What did he do? Tell what he said to his 
wife. What did she do? Tell what the good people told her. Tell what 
the proud man said when his wife told him how it happened. What did 
his wife tell him to do? Tell what the proud man said when he had 
overtaken the traveler. What did he ask for? Was his request granted? 
Repeat what was said. 

2. What are tiles? Where are they placed on a house? What are 
they for? Tell the names of the different parts of a house. (Foundation, 
cellar or basement, first story, etc.) Name as many different kinds of build- 
ings as you can. (Schoolhouses, churches, store buildings, etc.) Tell of 
large buildings you have seen and what they were used for. 

3. Did the good man and woman tell the truth about how they came 
to have a new house? Did the proud man tell the truth about going for 



THE WONDERFUL TRAVELER. 137 

the key? Why did he try to deceive the wonderful traveler? Was he 
truly sorry that he had been selfish? Whose conduct pleases you? Was 
the traveler grateful to the poor people? Why do you think he granted 
the same favor to the unkind man? What did he say when he told the 
man he might have three wishes granted? 

4. Who deceived in "The Seven Little Goats"? In "Red Riding 
Hood"? In "Death of the Cock"? In "Mother Frost"? How were they 
all punished? 

Reproduction. 



IV. 
Preparation. 

We will next learn how the proud man had his wishes 
granted. What do you suppose he will wish for? Let us see. 

Narration. 

THE PROUD MAN'S WISHES. 

Now that the proud man had obtained what he wanted, 
he started home very happy and began to think what he would 
wish for. As he rode along he let the bridle reins hang loose 
on the horse's neck. All at once his horse began to jump and 
rear upon his hind feet. His master patted him on the neck 
and said, "Be still, there." But the horse jumped and reared 
all the more. At last the master became very angry and said, 
"I wish you would break your neck." No sooner had he 
spoken the words than his horse fell backward, broke his neck, 
and died. Thus was the first wish of the proud man fulfilled. 

But the proud man was very careful not to lose anything, 



138 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

so he took the saddle from the dead horse, threw it on his 
back, and started home on foot. 

"Now," he thought, "I have two wishes left." In this way 
he comforted himself. His road lay through deep sand. It 
was noon. The sun shone hot and the saddle made his back 
sore. This made him sigh. He was so warm and uncom- 
fortable. He had not yet made up his mind what to wish. He 
turned many things over in his mind. "I will manage it," he 
thought, "so that there will be nothing more in all the world 
to wish." 

Many times he thought, "Now I have found it." But pres- 
ently it would seem that his wish was too small. Then he 
began to think of his wife sitting at home in the cool house 
enjoying herself. This made him out of humor and, without 
thinking, he said, "I wish that she sat there at home on my 
saddle, and could not get free from it, instead of its being here 
on my back!" No sooner said than he felt the saddle disappear 
and knew that his second wish had been granted. 

Then he began to be afraid and he ran toward home as fast 
as he could. He wanted to get home and sit down in a quiet 
room and think what he would ask for in his third wish. He 
wanted to wish something as large as he could. But, as he 
came to his house and opened the door, there sat his wife on 
the saddle. She was very red in the face, and very angry, and 
she shrieked at the top of her voice. 



THE WONDERFUL TRAVELER. 139 

"Be contented," said her husband, "I am going to wish you 
all the riches in the world. Just be quiet." But she answered, 
"What good would all the riches in the world do me if I have 
to sit on this saddle always? You have wished me on it and 
now you must wish me off." The proud man must now, 
whether willing or not, use his third wish to get his wife free 
from the saddle. So he said, "I wish you may get off the 
saddle." 

When his wife stood again upon her feet she began to 
scold her foolish husband. "You are very silly and stupid," 
she exclaimed; "I could have managed it much better." Thus 
the proud man had nothing for his pains but anger, scolding, 
and a dead horse. His neighbors, however, lived contented 
and quiet, but happy, till the end of their days. 

Suggestions. 

i. Tell how the proud man started home. What did the horse do? 
Tell about the man's first wish. Tell about the saddle. What put him 
out of humor? How did he think he would manage his remaining 
wishes? Tell about his second wish. Why did he hasten home? What 
did he find there? Tell about his third wish. What did his wife say to 
him when she regained her liberty? What had he for his pains? How 
did his neighbors live? 

Reproduction. 

2. Where have you seen a horse with saddle and bridle on? What 
is the saddle used for? The reins? How is the saddle fastened on? Do 
you know the names of some parts of the horse's harness? I will tell 
you some. Here is a picture of a horse with harness on. [Show picture.] 
Tell how horses are used. Which is more useful, a horse or a donkey? 
In what story did we learn of a donkey? Which do we like better? Do 
men ride donkeys, too? Tell how we should care for our horses. 



140 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

3 Was the traveler right when he told the proud man it would be 
better if he did not wish at all? Why did he fare so badly in his wishes? 
Why didn't he wish better things? 

Was he as wise as his neighbor? 

Was he as happy? 




HANS AND THE FOUR BIG GIANTS, Ml 

HANS AND THE FOUR BIG GIANTS. 

(Text from "In Story Land," by Elizabeth Harrison.) 

I. 

Preparation. 

The story of a boy who lived in the country. The story 
tells of his home life, how he went away to work in a great 
city, how he wished to serve a lovely princess, and how four 
great giants helped him. First, we shall hear of his home in 
the country. Talk of country sights and sounds. Children 
give their experiences. 

Narration. 

THE HOME IN THE COUNTRY. 

Once upon a time there lived a little boy whose name was 
Hans. His home was in a village where the tall trees shaded 
the green grass that grew around the houses. Hans loved his 
home very much. He loved to hear the birds sing and "to 
watch them fly high in the air, and he often threw crumbs upon 
the ground for them to eat. 

He loved the bright red and blue and yellow flowers which 
grew in the garden behind the house. He delighted in sweet 
odors which came all unseen from their very hearts. So he 



142 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

gladly watered them when they looked thirsty. His mother 
soon taught him how to place strong, straight sticks beside 
the weak vines so that they, too, could climb up and get the 
sunlight. 

Hans loved the dear old hens and their downy chickens 
that were not afraid to peck the grain out of his hand. In 
fact, Hans loved everything and everybody about him, from 
the small naked worms which crawled about among the clods 
of earth, up to the strange and beautiful stars which shone so 
high above his head. He was a very happy little fellow, al- 
ways busy, always finding something to do for somebody. 

Suggestions, 

1. Question to deepen and connect the story. 
Reproduction. 

2. A talk about gardens and flowers, chickens and how they are 
cared for. Earth worms, their habits, appearance, habitat, uses. 

Explain clods. 

3. Kindness to dependent creatures. Recall Cinderella's kindness 
to birds. Kindness of Rose-red and Snow-white to animals. 



II. 
Preparation. 

How Hans helped his father work in the forest, and how he 
left home to work in a big city. 

Talk of work in a forest and in the city. 



HANS AND THE FOUR BIG GIANTS. 143 

Narration. 

LEAVING HOME. 

By and by, when Hans grew to be a tall, strong lad, he used 
to go with his father to the forest to chop wood and thus help 
earn money which went to buy food and clothes for his mother 
and his three younger brothers. For Hans' father was poor, 
and money was scarce in his family. 

After a time, when Hans had grown so tall that you and I 
would call him a young man, his father said to him, "Hans, 
my boy, it is time now that you started out to hunt some work 
for yourself. Your next younger brother can help me with the 
wood-chopping and the smaller ones can help the mother in 
the work about the house. You must go out into the world 
and learn how to take care of yourself; and perhaps, some day, 
you may have to take care of your mother and me, when we 
grow too old to work." 

So Hans' mother packed his clothes in a little bundle; and, 
as she kissed him good-bye, she said, "Hans, my precious son, 
always be brave and true, and the good God will take care of 
you." Hans then bade farewell to his father and his younger 
brothers and started on his journey. 

Suggestions. 

1. Question to emphasize the thought of the story. 

2. Reproduction. 

3. A talk of how each one in this family had his share of the work. 
Talk about the mother's parting words to Hans. 

Motto: Be brave and true. 



144 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

III. 

Preparation. 

How Hans came to a large city and found work there. 
Talk about the sights and sounds of a great city. Recall idea 
of village. Children imagine what kind of work Hans looked 
for. 

Narration. 

HANS IN THE CITY. 

Hans walked a long way until, by and by, he came to a 
great city, where the houses looked dingy with smoke and the 
rattle of the carts and wagons made a roaring noise. 

After a time he found some work in the shop of a black- 
smith and, although the work was grimy and rather hard to do, 
Hans used to like to see the sparks fly from the red-hot iron 
every time he struck a blow with his heavy hammer. 

He was very proud when, at last, he could shape the iron 
into a fine horse-shoe almost as well as the smith himself. 
Hans did not know it, but this very work was making his 
arms grow big and strong, and his chest broad and full. 

Suggestions. 

i. Question to deepen and connect the story. 

Reproduction. 

2. Country and city. Blacksmith work. 



HANS AND THE FOUR BIG GIANTS. 145 

Iron; things made from iron; qualities and source of iron. 

3. Determination and industry of Hans. 

Recall examples of industry and laziness in other stories. 

Motto: Try, try again. 

IV. 

Preparation. 

Hans sees a lovely princess and wishes to serve her. He 
goes to her father's palace. 

How could Hans serve a princess? 
Recall explanation of princess and palace. 
Explain governor, provinces, enchanted. 

Narration. 

THE KING'S PALACE. 

Every day Hans used to see a beautiful princess drive past 
the blacksmith's shop. She was the most beautiful princess 
in the world; and, although her blue eyes and golden hair 
were admired by everyone, she was chiefly beloved because of 
her sweet smile. 

Hans used often to say to himself, "How I wish I could 
serve this lovely princess." At last one day he went to the 
palace gate and asked the gate-keeper if there was not some 
work in the palace which he could do. "What can you do?" 
asked the gate-keeper. "I am willing to do any kind of work 
which the king may need to have done," answered Hans. 



146 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

Then the gate-keeper passed him on to the keeper of the 
king's palace. "What can you do?" asked the keeper of the 
king's palace, also. "I am willing to do any kind of work 
which the king may need to have done," replied Hans. So 
the keeper of the palace told the king that there was a strong, 
tall young man without who wanted to serve him. 

When Hans came into the presence of the mighty king, 
the monarch looked at him very hard for a few moments and 
then said, "What can you do, young man?" And again Hans 
replied, "I am willing to do anything that you need to have 
done. I would like to serve the lovely princess." "You would, 
would you?" cried the king. "Now, I will test you. In the 
bottom of the North Sea there lies a string of enchanted 
pearls. If you will get those pearls and bring them to me, 
you shall serve my daughter, the princess, and in time I may 
make you governor over one of my provinces, — who knows?" 
And the king laughed to himself. Hans was wild with delight 
and, turning, hastened out of the palace. 

Suggestions. 

i. Question to deepen and connect the story. 
Reproduction. 

2. Talk of sea and the North Sea; of pearls. 

3. Hans' ability to do hard work. The value of being able to work. 
Courageous disposition. 



HANS AND THE FOUR BIG GIANTS. 147 

V. 

Preparation. 

Hans starts on his journey and meets a giant, who helps 
him on his way. 

Talk of possible ways in which Hans may journey. 

Narration, 

HANS STARTS ON HIS JOURNEY. 

The very next day Hans started on his journey to the 
North Sea. He walked a long ways, and until he was very 
tired. At length, just ahead of him he saw a big giant rushing 
along in a very strange fashion. 

"Good morning," said Hans, as he caught up with the 
giant. "What a very large giant you are!" "Yes," replied 
the giant, looking down at Hans, "I have need to be both 
large and strong. Where are you going, young man?" "I 
am going," answered Hans, "to the North Sea, to get a string 
of enchanted pearls which lies at the bottom of the sea." "Ah!" 
said the tall giant, "it will take a long time to get there. Now, 
if you could walk as fast as I can, it would be an easy matter." 

"How fast can you walk?" asked Hans. "I can walk 
faster than a greyhound can run," said the giant, "and when I 
run swiftly, a river cannot keep pace with me." "Can you, 



148 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

indeed?" exclaimed Hans; "what a fine fellow you are! I 
wish you would come along with me. After I find the string 
of pearls I want to get back to the king's palace as soon as 
possible, for I am to serve the beautiful princess." "If that's 
the case," said the giant, "I think I will go along with you." 
And the two went along together. 

Suggestions. 

1. Question to deepen the story. 
Reproduction. 

2. Talk of different modes of travel known to the children. How a 
giant locomotive helps. 

3. Hans' politeness to strangers. Friendliness. 



VI. 

Preparation. 

Hans meets another giant who offers to help him. Recall 
the first giant and his aid. Children imagine who the second 
giant may be. 

Narration. 

HANS MEETS A SECOND GIANT. 

Hans and the first giant went along together until they 
saw what Hans thought must be a huge, round stone lying in 
the road. When, however, they came up to it, he saw that it 
was another big giant lying asleep by the roadside. The hot 



HANS AND THE FOUR BIG GIANTS. Hg 

sun was pouring down upon his face. "Stay here," said Hans, 
"until I can cut a branch from some tree to shade that poor 
fellow's face. The sun is so hot it will soon blister him." 

At these words, the first giant laughed aloud. "Ho, ho!" 
he cried, "don't you know who that is? He is a neighbor of 
mine. He has such strong eyes that he can see a fly on a leaf 
of a tree a mile away." 

The loud laugh of the first giant awoke the sleeping giant, 
and he opened his great eyes and stared at Hans. "What 
are you doing, young man?" growled he. "Oh, nothing," 
said Hans; "I was merely sticking these branches into the 
ground so that they might keep the sun out of your face." 
"Bah!" cried the great giant, sitting up. "Did you not know 
that my eyes are so strong that I could look the noonday sun 
straight in the face?" 

"Indeed! Indeed!" said Hans; "what a wonderful giant 
you must be! I wish you would come with me. I may need 
your strong eyes, for I am on my way to the North Sea to 
search for an enchanted necklace of pearls which lies at the 
bottom of the sea." "Oh, ho!" said the giant, "if that's the 
case, I think I will go with you." So Hans and the two big 
giants walked on together. 

Suggestions. 

i. Question to connect the story. 
Reproduction. 



150 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

2. Talk of things that magnify; — spectacles; opera glasses; micro- 
scopes; telescopes. Their uses. 

3. The willingness of the great giants to help. 



VII. 

Preparation. 

Hans meets a third giant who goes with him on his journey 
to the North Sea. 

Recall the other giants and their work. Children imagine 
who the third giant may be. 

Narration. 

HANS MEETS A THIED GIANT. 

Hans and the two big giants went on together. They had 
not gone more than three or four miles when Hans spied an- 
other great giant sitting under a tall tree. 

As they came up to him the wind blew his hat off his 
head. "I will fetch it for you," cried Hans, as he ran forward 
after the hat. But, before he could get to the spot where the 
hat lay, the big giant reached out his long arm and himself 
picked up his hat and put it again on his head. 

At this all three of the huge giants laughed. "Didn't you 
know that he is the giant who can reach five hundred yards?" 
asked the long-legged giant. "No," exclaimed Hans, clapping 
his hands with delight. "You are just the giant I need. When 



HANS AND THE FOUR BIG GIANTS. 151 

I get to the North Sea you can reach down to the bottom of 
it and pick up the enchanted necklace of pearls. Will you not 
come and help me?" The new giant thought for a minute 
or two, and then said, "Oh, yes, I will go along if I can be of 
any use to you." 

So Hans and the three big giants started gayly forward 
on their journey to the North Sea. 

Suggestions. 

1. Reproduction. 

2. Talk about things that lift. Their uses. 

3. Obligingness. Recall instances of in "Mother Frost" and in 
"Snow-white and Rose-red" stories. 



VIII. 

Preparation. 

Hans meets a fourth giant. Who can this giant be? 

Narration. 

HANS MEETS A FOURTH GIANT. 

Hans and the three big giants had not gone far before 
Hans saw in the distance another giant quietly leaning up 
against a very large rock. He seemed so deep in thought that 
he did not see Hans and his fellow travelers until they came 
near to where he stood. 

Hans noticed that both of this giant's ears were stopped 



152 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

with cotton. "Have you earache?" asked Hans. "Perhaps I 
can do something to ease your pain." 

"Oh, no," said the giant, "I merely stuffed cotton into my 
ears to shut off some of the sounds about me. I can hear so 
well that I can tell what men are saying a hundred miles away 
from me." 

"What a valuable giant you must be!" exclaimed Hans. 
"Will you not come with us? When I get the enchanted 
necklace of pearls, you can tell me whether it will be safe to 
take it back to the king's palace." 

The giant, being very good-natured, said, "You think you 
will need me, do you? Well, I'll go along." So Hans and 
the four big giants walked on. 

Suggestions, 

1. Talk of things that help us hear: — speaking-tubes, telephones, etc. 

2. Taking time to be kind. Instances in other stories of people 
stopping to do a kindness. 

IX. 
Preparation, 

The story tells how Hans got the necklace, how the giants 
helped him, and how he carried the necklace to the lovely 
princess. 

Recall position of the necklace. The children imagine how 
the giants aided Hans. 



HANS AND THE FOUR BIG GIANTS, 153 

Narration. 

HOW HANS GOT THE NECKLACE. 

Hans and the four giants went on until they came to the 
North Sea. Then they got a boat and rowed out to the deep 
water. The giant who could see so far soon found the place 
where the necklace lay on the sand at the bottom of the sea. 

Then the giant whose arms were long reached down and 
picked up the necklace and laid it in the boat. 

Hans and the giants now rowed back to the shore. As 
soon as they had landed, the giant who could hear so well 
took the cotton out of his right ear and listened to what was 
being said at the king's palace. He heard the people in the 
palace talking of a grand festival which was to take place the 
next night in honor of the birthday of the beautiful princess. 

He told Hans what he had heard, and the giant who could 
run so fast stooped down and let Hans climb up and seat him- 
self on his great shoulders. Away the two sped, faster than a 
bird could fly. They reached the palace in time for Hans to 
give the enchanted necklace of pearls to the king, just as he 
was about to seat his beautiful daughter on a throne beside his 
own. 

The king was so pleased to get the necklace that he at 
once gave Hans the office of serving the beautiful princess. 
Hans served her so faithfully that she learned to love him 
dearly, and in time they were married. 



154 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

When the old king died, Hans was made king and the 
beautiful princess was queen. 

Hans, you may be sure, took good care of his old father 
and mother, and both he and his queen did everything they 
could to make all the people in their kingdom industrious and 
happy. 

Hans persuaded his four friends, the giants, to come and 
live in his kingdom and through them it became the richest 
and most prosperous country on the face of the earth, so that 
travelers came from all over the world to visit it. 

Suggestions, 

Question to deepen and connect story. Reproduction. 
A talk about the four giants and their work. 
Everyone helps him who helps himself. 
Gratitude to and loving remembrance of parents. 




THE FIR TREE, 155 

THE FIR TREE. 
I. 

Preparation. 

The story of a little fir tree that grew in the forest. The 
story tells about the pleasant home this little tree had, and 
yet that it was discontented. 

Recall idea of forest. Explain discontented. 

The children imagine why the tree was discontented. 

Narration. 

IN THE FOREST. 

Far away in the forest grew a pretty little fir tree. The 
sun shone on this little tree. The birds sang to it. The wind 
kissed it. Other trees grew around it. The forest was a very 
pleasant place, and yet the fir tree was unhappy. 

It wanted to be tall and old like the big pines and firs which 
grew around it. Sometimes little children came with baskets 
of berries. They would sit upon the ground near the fir tree; 
and as they ate berries, they chatted merrily. "Is this not a 
pretty little tree?" they would say. And the fir tree felt more 
unhappy than ever because the children called it little. 

Yet all the while it was growing taller and stronger. Still, 
as it grew, it would sigh and say, "Oh, how I wish I were as 



156 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

tall as the other trees! I would spread out my branches on 
every side. My top would overlook the wide world. The 
birds would build their nests in my branches, and when the 
wind blew I would gracefully bow my head." 

The tree was so discontented that it took no pleasure in the 
warm sunshine, the merry birds, or the rosy clouds that floated 
over it morning and evening. 

When winter came the snow lay white and glistening upon 
the ground. Then a frisky hare came springing along. Right 
over the little fir tree it jumped, and oh, how vexed the little 
fir tree was! Two winters passed by. When the third winter 
came the tree was so tall that the hare had to run around it. 
But still the foolish tree was discontented and said, "Oh, if 
I could only be taller and older! There is nothing else I wish 
for in all the world." 

Suggestions. 

A talk about fir trees and other evergreens, such as pine and hem- 
lock. Compare with the fir tree. 

Recall another story in which some one picked berries. ("Sweet 
Rice Porridge.") 

Talk of berries. Children tell of their experiences in picking berries. 
Recall mention of hare in another story. The wind. 

Discontent. 



THE FIR TREE. 157 

II. 
Preparation. 

The story tells how wood-cutters came to the forest and 
cut some of the tallest fir trees. 

Recall mention of wood-cutters and their work. The chil- 
dren imagine why the tallest trees were cut down. 

Narration. 

THE WOOD-CUTTERS. 

In the autumn wood-cutters came to the forest with their 
shining axes. They set to work to cut down some of the fir 
tree's tall neighbors. Chop, chop, chop, how their axes flew! 
And crash! the great trees fell upon the ground. The wood- 
cutters chopped off all the branches. How bare and straight 
the trees looked! 

"I wonder what will happen next," thought the fir tree. It 
soon found out, for all these bare trunks were piled upon 
wagons which were drawn out of the forest by horses. "Where 
can they be going?" thought the fir tree. "How I wish I 
knew! How I wish I were going, too!" 

In the spring, when the swallows and the storks came 
back, the fir tree told them about the wood-cutters' visit. "Tell 
me," it said, "do you know where those trees were taken?" 
The swallows said, "We do not know." But a wise old stork 



158 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

nodded his head and said, "Yes, I think I know. I met some 
new ships as I flew over the sea. These ships had tall masts 
that smelt like fir. I think they were the trees you spoke of." 

"What is the sea? What does it look like?" asked the fir 
tree. "Dear me," said the stork, "I cannot stop here to tell 
you. I must go on to my home." And away he flew. 

"Cheer up," said the happy sunbeams to the fir tree. The 
gentle south wind kissed it. The dew watered it. But still 
the fir tree was unhappy, 

Suggestions. 

Talk about swallows and storks. The return of the birds in spring. 
The sea. Ships. Where seen by the children. Appearance of masts and 
sails; their uses. Other uses of tall, strong trees. 



III. 
Preparation. 

The story tells that at Christmas time the men came to the 
forest and cut down some beautiful young trees. The children 
imagine why these trees were cut down at Christmas time. 

Narration. 

OTHER TREES GO FROM THE FOREST. 

Christmas time drew near and men came to the forest 
again. This time many young trees were cut down. These 



THE FIR TREE, 159 

trees, which were very pretty, kept their branches. They were 
laid in wagons and drawn by horses out of the forest. 

"Where are they going?" asked the fir tree. "They are 
not taller than I am. Indeed, one is not so tall. And their 
branches are not cut off. Where can they be going ?" 

"We know, we know/' chirped the sparrows. "We have 
looked in at the windows of the houses in town, and we know 
what is done with those pretty young trees. They are dressed 
up in the most splendid manner. We have seen them standing 
up in the middle of a warm room. They had many beautiful 
things hanging upon them, and hundreds of gay-colored 
candles were fastened to the branches." 

"And what happened then?" asked the fir tree. "We did 
not see any more," said the sparrows. "I wonder if anything 
so fine will ever happen to me?" thought the fir tree. "Oh, 
how happy I should be ! I wish I were on the wagon, or stand- 
ing in the warm room with all the brightness around me." 

"Be glad with us," said the sunbeams. "Be glad," said the 
sweet, fresh air. But still the fir tree was discontented and 
longed to leave its home in the forest. 

Suggestions. 

Talk about sparrows; their appearance, food, habits, etc. 
Reasons for being glad. 



160 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION, 

IV. 
Preparation. 

The story tells how the fir tree at last got what it had 
wished for so long. The children recall the fir tree's wish 
to be tall and old, and to leave the forest. 

Narration. 

THE FIR TREE HAS ITS WISH. 

One year, just before Christmas, the wood-cutters came 
again to the forest. They set to work and cut down the dis- 
contented fir tree first of all. It was laid on the wagon with 
other trees and drawn out of the forest. 

The fir tree had its wish. It was leaving its home in the 
forest. But now that the time had come, its heart was sad. 
It knew that it would never again see the other trees, nor the 
little bushes, nor the many bright-eyed flowers that had grown 
around it. "Perhaps," said the tree, "I may never again see 
my friends, the merry birds." And it felt very sad, indeed. 

On it was carried until, at last, it stopped before a large 
house in the great city. The fir tree heard a man say, "We 
want only one and this is the prettiest." Then two servants 
came and carried the tree into a large and very beautiful room. 
A handsome carpet was on the floor. Pictures hung upon the 



THE FIR TREE. 161 

walls. Near the great stove stood huge china vases with 
lions on their lids. There were rocking chairs, and sofas 
covered with silks. There were many tables loaded with pic- 
ture-books and playthings. The fir tree was set up in a tub 
full of sand, but a green cloth was hung all around the tub so 
that no one could see it. 

Soon some young ladies came in and began to trim the 
tree. How busily they worked! How pretty they made the 
tree look! On it they hung little bags made of colored paper. 
Each little bag was filled with candy. Apples and gilded nuts 
were hung on it. They looked as if they were growing upon 
the tree. Dolls that looked just like real babies were laid under 
the lowest branches. Hundreds of red, white and blue tapers 
were fastened on the tree. At the very top was a beautiful 
golden star. 

"How pretty it looks !" said the young ladies. "How 
bright it will look to-night !" "How I wish that the night 
were come and the tapers lighted," thought the tree. "I won- 
der if the sparrows will peep in at the windows and see me!" 

At last night came. How beautiful the tree looked with all 
its tapers twinkling like tiny stars among its dark green leaves. 
All at once the door was opened. In rushed a troop of merry 
children. How they shouted and clapped their hands for joy 



162 THE STORY IN PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

when they saw the beautiful tree. Then, hand in hand, they 
danced around it, singing a sweet Christinas song. 
"Ah!" said the fir tree, "at last I am happy." 

Suggestions. 

A talk on Christmas trees. 

The cause of the fir tree's happiness. 




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